STUDIES     IN      RUSSIA 


AUGUSTUS  J.  C.  HARE 

AUTHOR  OF 

;  WALKS  IN  ROME,"   "  CITIES  OF  NORTHERN  AND  CENTRAL   ITALY," 
"  WANDERINGS  IN  SPAIN,"   ETC. 


GEORGE   ROUTLEDGE   AND   SONS,   LIMITED 
NEW  YORK  :   9  LAFAYETTE  PLACE 


•jn 


*       «    •     .•    ••*    c'c4 

*  •     *•«••."•      * 


TO 


THE  KIND  COMPANIONS  OF  THREE  FOREIGN  JOURNEYS 


THIS  VOLUME  IS  DEDICATED 


227721 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE. 

CATHEDRAL  OF  ST.   ISAAC 29 

ALEXANDER  COLUMN 33 

ADMIRALTY   TOWER 44 

THE   FORTRESS,  ST.  PETERSBURG  ...        68 

PALACE  OF    PETERHOF IO2 

IMPERIAL    BATH,  TZARSKOE  SELO        .  .  .  .113 

SCHLUSSELBURG 119 

KREMLIN   OF    NOVOGOROD 138 

SOPHIA  OF  NOVOGOROD 139 

CHAPEL  ON  THE  BRIDGE  OF  NOVOGOROD   .  .  .141 

CATHEDRAL  OF  ST.  SOPHIA,  NOVOGOROD    .  .  .      144 

INTERIOR  OF  ST.  SOPHIA,  NOVOGOROD          .  .  .146 

ST.  BASIL  THE  BEATIFIED   .  .  .  .  .  .      166 

GATE  OF  THE  REDEEMER  (INTERIOR)  .  .  .172 

VIEW  FROM  THE  KREMLIN 175 

CATHEDRAL  OF  THE  ANNUNCIATION  .  .  .      l88 

KREMLIN,  MOSCOW        .  .          .          .          •          .  .221 

OSTANKINO 247 

CONVENT  OF  SIMONOF 263 

NOVO  DEVICHI  MONASTERY          ...  .  265 


vi  LIST  OF  ILL  USTRA  T1ONS. 

DONSKOI  MONASTERY 270 

THE  NEW  JERUSALEM 309 

TOMB  OF  NIKON 311 

THE  DNIEPER,  KIEFF 3$2 

ST.  SOPHIA,  KIEFF  . 3$6 

HOLY  PLACES  OF  KIEFF         .  .  .  .  .  •  3?I 

BENEATH  THE  PECHERSKOE  MONASTERY   .          .          .  372 

HCLY  CHAPEL  OF  KIEFF 375 

PALACE  OF    VILLANOV 389 

CITADEL  OF  CRACOW 391 


PREFACE. 


"  A  FOREIGNER  must  spend  two  years  in  our  country 
before  he  can  judge  of  it,"  say  the  Russians,  and  the 
author  of  the  following  chapters  feels  bound  to  confess 
at  the  outset  that  he  has  only  passed  one  summer  there. 
He  would  not  have  ventured  to  write,  much  less  to  pub- 
lish, any  thing  he  had  written  about  it,  if  it  were  not  that, 
when  he  was  in  the  country,  he  had  himself  felt  intensely 
the  want  of  such  assistance  as  may  be  found  in  this  vol- 
ume. Few  English  travelers  know  Russian  enough 
to  enable  them  to  ask  questions  or  to  understand  verbal 
information  ;  the  meager  existing  English  handbooks 
give  a  useful  catalogue  of  the  sights  in  the  principal  towns, 
but  scarcely  any  information  as  to  their  meaning  or  his- 
tory ;  and  much  thus  passes  unobserved  or  misunder- 
stood which  might  lend  a  great  charm  to  the  usual 
monotony  of  a  Russian  tour.  This  book  does  not  profess 
to  contain  many  original  observations,  but  it  is  a  gath- 
ering up  of  such  information  as  its  author  has  been  able 
to  obtain  from  the  lips  or  writings  of  those  better  in- 
formed than  himself,  and  for  which  he  would  have  been 
so  thankful  before  his  own  visit  to  Russia,  that  he  believes 


viii  PREFACE. 

it  will  not  be  unwelcome  to  others,   especially  to  those 
who  are  likely  to  travel  in  that  country. 

The  illustrations  are  from  the  author's  own  sketches 
taken  upon  the  spot,  under  the  fear,  almost  the  certainty, 
of  arrest,  and  sometimes  of  imprisonment,  till  the  rare 
official  could  be  found  who  was  capable  of  reading  the 
various  permits  with  which  he  was  furnished.  The  draw- 
ings have  been  transferred  to  wood  by  the  skill  of  Mr. 
T.  Sulman. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 
INTRODUCTORY       .  .  .  .  .  ,  .1 


CHAPTER  II. 

ST.   PETERSBURG    .  .  .  .  .  .  .23 

CHAPTER  III. 

EXCURSIONS   ROUND   ST.    PETERSBURG        .  .  .  .      g7 

CHAPTER  IV. 

NOVOGOROD  THE  GREAT  .  .  .  .  .  .132 

CHAPTER  V. 
MOSCOW  (THE  INNER  CIRCLES)    .  .  .  .  .156 

CHAPTER  VI. 
MOSCOW  (THE  OUTER  CIRCLES)   .....  223 


x  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  MONASTERIES  NEAR  MOSCOW  .  .  .  .25! 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  NEW  JERUSALEM         ,  .  .  .  .  .293 

CHAPTER  IX. 

KIEFF          ........    339 

CHAPTER  X. 

A   GLIMPSE  OF  POLAND       .  .  .  .  .  .384 

INDEX  .  .  395 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

best  time  for  visiting  Russia  is  always  said  to  be 
the  winter,  but  those  who  wish  to  sketch  must  go 
there  in  the  summer  months.  The/e  they  will  then  find 
St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow,  which  are  so  gay  in  the  snow- 
time,  almost  deserted  ;  every  one  has  gone  into  the  coun- 
try. But  except  for  the  sake  of  studying  native  manners 
and  customs,  and  the  melancholy  monotone  of  rural  life 
which  Gogol  has  described  so  well,  few  travelers  will 
follow  them  thither.  For  cursory  visitors  all  the  interest 
of  Russia  norih  of  the  Crimea  is  confined  to  the  cities, 
though  native  authors,  Pouchkine,  Gogol,  Tourgueneff, 
Koltsov,  teach  us  how  to  make  the  utmost  of  the  charms 
which  the  calm,  sleepy  existence  of  country  life  has  to 
offer,  especially  in  the  Ukraine.  As  to  scenery,  no  one 
must  expect  any  striking  beauty  in  Russia  ;  it  does  not 
possess  any  and  except  in  the  neighborhood  of  some  of 
the  towns — which  have  chosen  all  the  best  situations — 
there  is  scarcely  any  thing  which  can  be  even  called 
pretty.  The  desolation  is  also  extreme,  for  no  country 
is  more  thinly  inhabited.  The  time  when  Russia  shows 
at  its  best  is  just  after  the  sudden,  almost  instantaneous 
change  from  winter  to  a  verdant,  flower-laden  spring  of 
indescribable  radiance  and  freshness. 

"  The  whole  countrey  differeth  very  much  from  it  selfe,  by  reason 
of  the  yeere  :  so  that  a  man  would  marueille  to  see  the  great  alteration 
and  difference  betwixt  the  winter,  and  the  summer  Russia.  The  whole 
countrey  in  the  winter  lieth  under  snow,  which  falleth  continually,  and 
is  sometime  of  a  yard  or  two  thicke,  but  greater  towards  the  north. 
The  rivers  and  other  waters  are  all  frozen  vp  a  yard  or  more  thicke, 
how  swift  or  broade  soeuer  they  bee.  And  this  continueth  commonly 
fiue  moneths,  viz.,  from  the  beginning  of  November  till  towardes  the 
ende  of  March,  what  time  the  snow  beginneth  to  melt.  So  that  it 
would  breede  a  frost  in  a  man  to  looke  abroad  at  that  time,  and  see 
the  winter  face  of  that  countrey.  The  sharpnesse  of  the  aire  you  may 


•c«j  \$TUf?/ES. IN  RUSSIA. 


judge  of  by  this  ;  for  that  water  dropped  down  or  cast  vp  into  the  aire 
congealeth  into  yce  before  it  come  to  the  ground.  In  the  extremitie  of 
winter,  if  you  holde  a  pewter  dish  or  pot  in  your  hand,  or  any  other 
metall  (except  in  some  chamber  where  their  warme  stoaues  bee),  your 
fingers  will  friese  fast  vnto  it,  and  draw  off  the  skinne  at  the  parting . 
When  you  passe  out  of  a  warme  roome  into  a  colde,  you  shall  sensibly 
feele  your  breathe  to  waxe  starke,  and  euen  stifeling  with  the  colde,  as 
you  drawe  it  in  and  out.  Diuers  not  onely  that  trauel  abroad,  but  in 
the  very  markets  and  streets  of  their  townes,  are  mortally  pinched 
and  killed  withall :  so  that  you  shall  see  many  drop  downe  in  the 
streetes  ;  many  trauellers  brought  into  the  townes  sitting  dead  and 
stiffe  in  their  sleds.  Diuers  lose  their  noses,  the  tips  of  their  eares, 
and  the  bals  of  their  cheeks,  their  toes,  feete,  &c.  Many  times  (when 
the  winter  is  very  hard  and  extreame)  the  beares  and  wolfes  issue  by 
troupes  out  of  the  woods  driuen  by  hunger,  and  enter  the  villages, 
tearing  and  rauening  all  they  can  finde  :  so  that  the  inhabitants  are 
faine  to  flic  for  safeguard  of  their  Hues.  And  yet  in  the  summer  time 
you  shall  see  such  a  new  hiew  and  face  of  a  countrey,  the  woods  (for 
the  most  part  which  are  all  of  firre  and  birch)  so  fresh  and  so  sweete, 
the  pastures  and  medowes  so  greene  and  well  growen  (and  that  vpon 
the  sudden),  such  varietie  of  flowers,  such  noyse  of  birdes  (specially  of 
nightingales,  that  seeme  to  be  more  lowde  and  of  a  more  variable  note 
than  in  other  countreys)  that  a  man  shall  not  lightly  trauell  in  a  more 
pleasant  countrey, " — Dr.  Giles  Fletcher f  Ambassador  from  Elizabeth 
to  the  Tsar  Feodor  Ivanovitch,  1588. 

A  traveler  accustomed  to  the  freedom  of  the  rest  of 
Europe  will  be  intensely  worried  by  the  tyranny  which  is 
exercised  over  him  in  Russia,  and  which  will  call  all  his 
powers  of  patience  into  unceasing  and  vigilant  practice. 
There  is  no  end  to  the  orders'  which  are  necessary  for  all 
sights,  almost  for  all  actions,  or  to  the  degree  in  which 
every  official,  generally  in  proportion  to  his  inferiority  and 
subordinateness,  exacts  to  the  uttermost  the  little  meed  of 
attention  which  he  thinks  due  to  his  self-esteem,  his  fees, 
or  more  especially  his  expectation  of  a  bribe,  and  his 
habit  of  receiving  it.  Many  of  the  sights  of  St.  Peters- 
burg and  Moscow  are  said  to  be  freely  open  ;  the  fact  is 
just  the  contrary.  A  visitor  can  see  nothing  unaccom- 
panied, neither  museum,  palace,  school,  hospital,  nor  any 
thing  else.  The  manners  and  politeness  of  the  East  are 
made  an  excuse  for  never  leaving  a  foreigner  alone, 
under  an  outward  pretext  of  doing  him  honor.  To  make 
a  sketch,  not  only  of  an  interior,  but  even  of  any  external 
view,  an  order,  signed  and  countersigned,  is  necessary, 
and  even  then  is  utterly  insufficient  to  protect  the  artist, 
who  is  often  dragged  for  miles  to  the  police  stations, 


TRA  VELING  IN  RUSSIA.  3 

because  the  police  themselves  can  not  read.  One  piece 
at  least  of  the  admirable  dying  advice  which  the  Grand 
Prince  Vladimir  Monomachus  gave  to  his  children  in 
1126  is  entirely  neglected  a4"  the  present  time  in  his 
country — 

"  Pay  especial  respect  to  strangers,  of  whatever  quality  or  whatever 
rank  they  may  be,  and  if  you  are  not  in  a  position  to  overwhelm  them 
with  gifts,  expend  for  them  at  the  least  proofs  of  your  good  will,  for 
upon  the  manner  in  which  they  are  treated  in  a  country  depends  the 
good  or  the  evil  which  they  will  speak  of  it  in  their  own." 

Nevertheless,  an  English  traveler,  possessed  of  a  firm 
intention  of  conquering  difficulties  and  laughing  at  defi- 
ciencies and  disagreeables,  will  find  much  in  Russia  to 
enjoy.  It  is  not  the  country  or  the  buildings,  but  the  life 
itself  which  makes  its  picturesqueness,  especially  to  one 
who  has  not  seen  the  East. 

"  On  se  sent,  en  Russie,  4  la  porte  d'une  autre  terre,  pres  de  cet 
Orient  d'ou  sont  sorties  tant  de  croyances  religieuses,  et  qui  renferme 
encore  dans  son  sein  d'incroyables  tresors  de  perseverance  et  de 
reflexion." — Madame  de  Slae'L 

Better  acquaintance  also  will  show  that  the  influence 
of  the  East  is  not  confined  to  externals,  and  that  Orien- 
tal mysticism  has  still  a  stronger  hold  than  European 
civilization  upon  the  country. 

"  La  Russie  est  un  immense  euifice  a  exterieur  europe'en,  orne  d'un 
fronton  europeen,  mais,  a  1'interieur,  meuble  et  administre  a  1'asiatique. 
La  tres  grande  majorite  des  fonctionnaires  russes,  deguises  en  cos- 
tumes plus  ou  moins  europeens,  precedent  dans  1'exercice  de  leurs 
fonctions  en  vrais  Tartares." — Prince  Dolgorouki. 

"  C'est  un  pays  a  la  fois  neuf  et  vieux,  une  monarchic  asiatique,  et 
une  colonie  europeenne  ;  c'est  un  Janus  a  deux  tetes,  occidental  par  sa 
jeune  face,  oriental  par  sa  face  vu  Hie." — Anatole  Leroy  Beaulieu 
(Revue  des  Deux-Mondes,  1873.) 

The  capabilities  and  powers  of  Russia  are  quite  out  of 
proportion  to  its  past  history,  but  it  is  impossible  for  an 
outsider  to  foretell  what  its  aspirations  for  the  future  may 
be.  It  is  only  certain  that  those  who  know  Russia  best 
are  those  who  consider  the  ordinary  impressions  of  it  the 
most  erroneous. 

"  There  is  a  widely  spread  belief  in  Europe  that  Russia  is  an  ambi- 
tious colossus,  thirsting  after  conquest,  and  aspiring  to  universal  mon- 


4  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

archy.  .  .  .  The  impulse  of  development  drove  it  to  the  conquest 
of  the  Baltic  and  Pontic  countries,  by  which  means  it  first  became  a 
State,  and  entered  the  circle  of  modern  civilized  empires.  Russia 
indeed  made  further  conquests  of  parts  of  Poland  proper,  the  Caucas- 
ian countries,  &c. ,  but  she  has  never  derived  any  real  advantage  from 
these  conquests — she  looks  forward  to  realize  them  in  a  distant  future. 
From  henceforth  every  further  conquest  would  be  a  source  of  incalcu- 
lable embarrassment.  Where  is  it  supposed  that  Russia  wishes  to 
extend  her  conquests  ?  An  increase  of  territory  on  the  side  of  Sweden 
were  madness  :  Finland  itself  is  only  valuable  as  a  fortress  to 
protect  St.  Petersburg.  Conquests  in  the  West  ?  Poland  is  already 
more  a  burden  than  an  advantage  to  Russia.  The  Caucasian  coun- 
tries, in  comparison  with  what  they  have  cost,  have  not  th~  slightest 
real  value  for  her.  The  frontier-line  toward  Persia  and  Asia  Minor 
is  at  present  drawn  so  favorably  for  Russia  that  any  further  conquest 
in  that  quarter  must  appear  insanity. 

"  But  the  conquest  of  Constantinople  ?  Can  it  be  believed  possible 
to  govern  Constantinople  from  St.  Petersburg  ?  The  entire  equilib- 
rium of  the  government  would  be  destroyed,  and  the  weight  of  power 
would  necessarily  seek  other  points  in  the  Empire,  such  as  Kharkof 
or  Odessa,  instead  of  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg. 

"There  exists  no  trace  of  any  warlike  idea  of  conquest  in  the 
Russian  people:  there  is  indeed  a  'Young  Russia,'  as  there  is  a 
Young  Europe,  a  Young  Germany,  a  Young  Italy  :  this  belongs  to 
the  development  of  modern  civilization.  Young  Russia  dreams  of  a 
great  Slavonic  empire,  of  the  restoration  of  Byzantium,  of  the  ancient 
Tzargorod,  but  these  dreams  have  never  penetrated  among  the 
people." — Haxthausen,  "  7"he  Russian  Empire" 

Of  late  years,  since  the  word  "  Nihilist,"  first  explained 
by  St.  Augustine,1  has  been  brought  into  common  accept- 
ance, the  Russian  government  has  been  chiefly  occupied 
by  its  internal  difficulties  and  dangers.  The  unhappy 
position  of  the  Tsar  is  even  far  worse  than  when,  in  1839, 
M.  de  Custine  wrote — 

' '  Le  souverain  absolu  est  de  tous  les  hommes  celui  qui  moralement 
souffre  le  plus  de  I'megalite  des  conditions  ;  et  ses  peines  sont  d'au- 
tant  plus  grandes,  qu'enviees  du  vulgaire  elles  doivent  paraitre  irreme- 
diables  a  celui  qui  les  subit." 

And  yet,  nominally,  the  Tsar  is  still  as  omnipotent  as  in 
the  old  times  when  we  read — 

"  II  (le  tsar)  dit,  et  tout  est  fait :  la  fortune  des  lai'ques  et  du  cierge, 
des  seigneurs  et  des  citoyens,  tout  depend  de  sa  volonte  supreme.  II 
ignore  la  contradiction,  et  tout  en  lui  semble  juste,  comme  dans  la 

i  "  Nihilisti  appellantur,  quia  nihil  credunt  et  nihil  decent."  Russian  society 
was  first  reminded  of  the  expression  by  Ivan  Tourgueneff  in  his  novel,  Parents 
and  Children,  in  which  the  "  nihilist"  Bazarof  plays  a  principal  part. 


RUSSIAN  POLITICS.  5 

divinite  ;  car  les  Russes  sont  persuades  que  le  grand  prince  est  1'exe- 
cuteur  des  decrets  celestes  :  ainsi  font  voulu  Dieu  et  le  prince,  Dieu 
et  le  prince  le  savent,  telles  sont  les  locutions  ordinaires  parmi  eux,"  ! 

and  when  we  read — 

"  He  who  blasphemes  his  Maker  meets  with  forgiveness  among 
men,  but  he  who  reviles  the  Emperor  is  sure  to  lose  his  head." — 
Travels  of  Macaiius,  ii.  73. 

In  colleges  or  council-halls  a  triangular  mirror — the 
"  Mirror  of  Conscience  " — is  always  set  up  to  typify  the 
presence  of  the  Emperor,  and  thus  to  solemnize  the  pro- 
ceedings. 

"  Cette  population  d'automates  ressemble  a  la  moitie  d'une  partie 
d'echecs  ;  car  un  seul  homme  fait  jouer  toutes  les  pieces,  et  1'adversaire 
invisible,  c'est  I'humanite.  On  ne  se  meut,  on  ne  respire  ici  que  par 
une  permission  ou  par  un  ordre  imperial ;  aussi  tout  est-il  sombre  et 
contraint ;  le  silence  preside  a  la  vie  et  la  paralyse.  Officiers,  cochers, 
cosaques,  courtisans,  tous  serviteurs  du  meme  maitre  avec  des  grades 
divers,  obeissent  aveuglement  a  une  pensee  qu'ils  ignorent  ;  c'est  un 
chef-d'oeuvre  de  discipline,  mais  tant  de  regularite  ne  s'obtient  que  par 
1'absence  complete  d  independance. 

' '  Le  gouvernement  russe,  c'est  la  discipline  du  camp  substitute  a 
1'ordre  de  la  cite,  c'est  1'etat  de  siege  devenu  1'etat  normal  de  la 
societe." — M.  de  Custine. 

"  The  patriarchal  government,  feelings,  and  organization  are  in  full 
activity  in  the  life,  manners  and  customs  of  the  Great  Russians.  The 
same  unlimited  authority  which  the  father  exercises  over  all  his  chil- 
dren is  possessed  by  the  mother  over  her  daughters  :  the  same  rever- 
ence and  obedience  are  shown  to  the  Communal  authorities,  the 
Starostas  and  Whiteheads,  and  to  the  common  father  of  all,  the  Tsar. 
The  Russian  addresses  the  same  word  to  his  real  father,  to  the  Star- 
osta,  to  his  master,  to  the  Emperor,  and  finally  to  God,  viz. ,  Father 
(Batiushka)  ;  in  like  manner  he  calls  every  Russian,  whether  known 
to  him  or  not,  Brother  (Brat). 

"  The  common  Russian  (Mushik)  entertains  no  slavish,  but  simply 
a  childlike  fear  and  veneration  for  the  Tsar  ;  he  loves  him  with  a  de- 
voted tenderness.  He  becomes  a  soldier  reluctantly,  but,  once  a 
soldier,  he  has  no  feeling  of  vindictiveness  for  the  coercion  exercised 
upon  him,  but  serves  the  Tsar  with  the  utmost  fidelity.  The  cele- 
brated expression  '  Prikazeno '  (it  is  ordered)  has  a  magical  power 
over  him.  Whatever  the  Emperor  commands  must  be  done ;  the 
Russian  can  not  conceive  the  impossibility  of  its  execution  :  the  orders 
of  the  police  are  not  even  worded  Zaprestchtno  (it  is  forbidden),  but 
Ne prikazeno  (it  is  not  ordered).  The  profound  veneration  felt  for 
the  Tsar  is  also  shown  in  the  case  of  every  thing  belonging  to  him  ; 
the  Russian  has  the  deepest  respect  for  the  Kaziomne,  or  property  of 

i  From  the  letters  of  Baron  d'Herbestein,  ambassador  from  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian to  the  Tsar  Vasili-Ivanovitch. 


6  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

Tsar.  '  Kaziomne  does  not  die,  does  not  burn  in  fire,  or  drown  in 
water,'  is  a  Russian  proverb. 

"  There  is  scarcely  an  instance  recorded  of  any  collectors  of  the 
Crown  taxes,  who  often  traverse  the  country  with  considerable  sums 
of  money,  being  attacked  and  robbed.  In  the  north,  in  the  govern- 
ment of  Vologda,  where  the  morals  of  the  people  are  still  particularly 
pure  and  simple,  and  great  confidence  and  honesty  prevail,  when  a 
collector  enters  a  village,  he  taps  at  each  window  and  calls  out 
'  Kaza  ! '  Then  each  person  brings  out  his  Crown  tax  for  the  year, 
and  throws  it  into  the  open  bag  :  the  collector  does  not  count  the 
money,  being  well  assured  that  he  is  never  cheated.  If  his  visit  is  in 
the  night,  he  enters  the  first  substantial  house,  places  his  money- 
bag under  the  image  of  the  Saint,  looks  for  a  place  to  rest  on,  and 
sleeps,  with  a  perfect  assurance  of  finding  his  money  safe  in  the 
morning. 

"  The  Tsar  is  the  father  of  his  people  ;  but  the  descent,  and  even 
the  sex,  of  the  sovereign  is  indifferent  to  them.  Ruric  and  the  Ver- 
angians  were  invited  into  the  country,  and  were  obeyed  like  hereditary 
chiefs.  The  Empress  Catherine  II.,  a  foreign  princess,  experienced 
the  same  veneration  and  attachment  as  princes  born  in  Russia  :  she 
became  nationalized  on  assuming  the  Tsardom.  The  profound  ven- 
eration for  authority  passes  to  the  person  of  every  one  who  assumes 
the  office  of  Tsar." — Haxthausen,  "  The  Russian  Empire." 

It  is  certain  that  no  position  of  temptation  can  possibly 
be  more  terrible  than  that  of  the  Tsar,  who,  nourished  in 
self-idoiatry,  constantly  hears  his  infallibility  proclaimed 
by  eighty-two  millions  of  his  subjects.  And  it  is  extraor- 
dinary that,  in  spite  of  such  temptation,  all  the  sove- 
reigns, since  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great  and  the  Empire, 
have  lived,  in  various  degrees,  according  to  their  light, 
for  the  good  of  their  people.  They  have  not,  however, 
always  continued  the  liberal  policy  of  Peter,  and,  under 
several  of  the  sovereigns  who  succeeded  Catherine  II., 
genius  was  always  looked  upon  as  a  sure  passport  for 
Siberia.  It  did  not  create  any  surprise  when,  one  day, 
at  the  Council  of  Censure,  a  high  official  declared  that 
"  every  writer  is  a  bear  who  ought  to  be  kept  in  chains." 
Under  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  none  even  of  the  books 
published  under  his  predecessors  could  be  brought  out 
again  unless  submitted  to  changes,  so  vigilant  was  the 
censorship  of  the  press.  Yet  some  regard  this  reign  as 
the  golden  age  of  Russian  literature,  because  it  was 
then  entirely  freed  from  foreign  influences.  The  suffer- 
ings of  a  native  author  at  this  time  are,  however,  vividly 
described  by  Tourgueneff : — 


EMANCIPA  TION  OF  SERFS.  7 

"Life  at  this  time  was  very  hard,  and  the  young  generation  of 
to-day  has  had  nothing  like  it  to  bear.  In  the  morning  the  censor 
returned  your  proofs  full  of  erasures,  covered  with  words  written  in 
red  ink,  and  as  if  they  were  stained  with  blood.  Sometimes  one  was 
obliged  to  have  an  interview  with  the  censor,  to  listen  to  his  sentences 
without  appeal,  and  often  ironical.  In  the  street  you  met  a  general 
or  head  clerk,  who  overwhelmed  you  with  abuse,  or  paid  you  compli- 
ments, which  was  worse-  When  one  looked  around  one,  one  saw 
venality  in  full  play,  serfdom  weighing  down  the  people  like  a  rock, 
barracks  rising  everywhere  :  there  was  no  justice,  the  closing  of  the 
universities  was  under  discussion,  traveling  abroad  was  impossible, 
one  could  not  order  any  serious  book,  a  dark  cloud  weighed  over  what 
was  then  called  the  administration  of  literature  and  science  ;  denun- 
ciation penetrated  everywhere  ;  amongst  young  people,  there  was  no 
common  bond,  nor  any  general  interests  ;  fear  and  flattery  existed 
everywhere." — Recollections  of  Bielinsky. 

Under  Nicholas  it  was  forbidden  to  speak  even  of  such 
a  Russian  ruler  as  Ivan  the  Terrible  as  a  tyrant.  No  one 
was  permitted  to  make  a  scientific  tour  in  Russia  without 
special  authorization.  No  one  could  leave  the  country 
without  a  permission  which  was  obtained  with  difficulty  on 
payment  of  a  tax  equivalent  to  two  thousand  francs.1 
Russia  was  thus  hermetically  sealed.  There  is  a  proverb 
which  says — "  The  gates  of  Russia  are  wide  to  those  who 
enter,  but  narrow  to  those  who  would  go  out." 

Warned  by  the  failure  of  the  policy  of  Nicholas,  which 
cost  Russia  her  dominion  of  the  Black  Sea  and  her  pro- 
tectorate of  the  Christians  of  the  East,  a  reign  of  com- 
parative liberty  was  inaugurated  under  his  successor 
Alexander  II.  The  system  which  consisted  in  governing 
Russia  without  any  participation  of  the  country  in  its 
own  affairs  was  condemned.  It  seemed  in  the  first  years 
of  Alexander  II.  as  if  the  conservative  Russia  of  Nicholas 
had  passed  away  forever.  Men  of  letters,  condemned  or 
watched  during  the  last  reign,  guided  public  opinion. 
But  it  was  realized  that  no  other  serious  reform  could  be 
carried  out,  till  the  greatest  of  all  was  effected — the  eman- 
cipation of  the  serfs.  These  owed  their  enthrallment  to 
the  administration  of  Boris  Godunof  as  minister  of  Feodor 
Ivanovitch  (1584-98),  when,  to  gratify  the  nobles,  he 
interdicted  the  peasantry  from  passing  from  the  domains 
of  one  landlord  to  another,  a  cruel  law  which  was  soon 
found  to  place  them  at  the  mercy  of  the  lords  of  the  soil, 

i  Victor  Tissot. 


8  S TUDJES  IN  A'  i \SSIA . 

and  against  which  they  murmured  ever  after,  sometimes 
revolting  into  the  Cossack  life  of  the  Don  and  the 
Dniester.  If  the  nobles  and  grandees  quarreled  amongst 
themselves,  their  serfs  were  only  the  more  oppressed. 
— "  When  wolves  fight,  sheep  lose  their  wool,"  was  a 
Russian  proverb.  Even  after  abundant  harvests,  the 
peasantry  were  often  compelled  to  starve,  that  their 
lords  in  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg  might  wallow  in 
luxuries. 

"  A  few  cities  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  life,  and  exhibit  palaces, 
because  whole  provinces  lie  desolate,  or  contain  only  wretched  hovels, 
in  which  you  would  expect  to  find  bears,  rather  than  men." — Memoirs 
of  the  Court  of  Petersburg,  p.  268. 

There  were  above  forty-seven  millions  of  serfs  in 
Russia,  of  which  twenty-one  millions  belonged  to  private 
land-owners,  and  one  million  and  a  half  belonged  to 
the  dvorovie  Q?  servant-class.  In  resigning  themselves  to 
whatever  treatment  they  received  personally,  the  serfs 
never  forgot  their  ancient  rights  to  the  soil.  "  Our 
backs  belong  to  the  landlord,  but  the  soil  to  ourselves," 
was  an  old  saying,  and  they  were  less  ready  than  the 
government  itself  to  forget  the  fact  that  the  obligation  of 
the  peasant  to  serve  his  lord  was  correlative  to  the  obliga- 
tion of  his  lord  to  serve  the  Tsar.  When  Peter  III.,  in 
his  brief  reign,  freed  the  nobles  from  obligatory  service 
to  the  State,  the  peasants  expected,  as  a  natural  sequence 
of  this  ukase,  the  issue  of  a  second  which  should  free  the 
peasantry  from  the  service  of  the  land.1 

It  was  in  1857  that  Alexander  II.  began  his  work  of 
liberty  by  forming  a  committee  "for  the  amelioration  of 
the  state  of  the  peasantry."  All  sections  of  the  literary 
world  had  arguments  to  offer  in  support  of  the  emancipa- 
tion, and  moral  and  social  progress  were  alike  declared 
impossible  while  slavery  continued.  But  it  was  to  the 
indefatigable  zeal  of  the  Emperor  himself,. and  his  deter- 
mination to  conquer  all  opposition  he  received,  that  the 
act  of  emancipation  was  really  due,  by  which  eventually 
the  Russian  peasantry  were  not  only  declared  free,  but 
placed  in  possession  of  more  than  half  of  all  the  arable 
land  possessed  by  those  who  had  hitherto  been  their  lords. 

;  Rambaud,  Hist,  dc  la  Russic, 


EMANCIPA  TION  OF  SERFS.  9 

Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  outsiders,  the  new  state  of 
things,  even  from  the  first,  was  not  hailed  with  enthusiasm 
by  the  class  it  was  intended  to  benefit.  They  cared  little 
whether  they  were  called  serfs  or  free  peasants,  unless  the 
change  of  name  brought  some  material  advantage,  and 
when  they  found  that  they  had  to  pay  government  taxes 
for  land  which  they  had  practically  treated  as  their  own 
before,  it  was  necessary  to  appoint  arbiters  for  the  diffi- 
cult task  of  conciliating  and  regulating  the  differences 
between  the  peasantry  and  the  old  proprietors,  and 
endeavoring  to  overcome  the  ignorance  of  the  former, 
and  the  unjust  claims  of  the  latter.  The  arbiters,  though 
indescribably  patient  and  painstaking,  only  partially  suc- 
ceeded. A  great  proportion  of  the  former  serfs  still 
regret  their  serfdom.  Then  they  were  provided  for  in 
old  age,  they  were  looked  after  in  case  of  sickness  or 
accident,  their  doctors'  bills  were  paid  for  them,  they  had 
an  hereditary  interest  in  their  proprietor  and  his  belong- 
ings and  he  in  them,  and,  in  the  rare  case  where  a  lord  of 
the  soil  was  unjust  or  cruel,  they  could  always,  and  often 
did — assassinate  him.1 

"  There  is  something  so  grand  in  the  very  name  of 
Liberty,"  says  the  philanthropist. 

"  But  can  it  feed  one  ? "  answers  the  emancipated  serf. 

Almost  all  Russian  peasants  now  would  find  it  difficult 
to  answer  the  question  whether  they  were  better  or  worse 
off  than  formerly,  for  the  present  money-dues  and  taxes 
are  often  more  burdensome  than  the  labor-dues  in  the 
time  of  serfage.  The  obligations  of  a  serf  were  usually 
more  than  compensated  by  their  privileges — by  the  rights 
of  grazing  their  cattle  on  the  manor-land,  of  obtaining 
firewood  or  timber  for  repairing  their  cottages.  All  their 
advantages  have  now  been  swept  away  with  their  bur- 
dens.2 

Emancipated  serfs  of  the  present  time  are  apt  to  forget 
what  the  position  of  their  class  was  a  hundred  years  ago  ; 
they  forget  that  Peter  the  Great  permitted  the  serfs  to  be 

i  For  instance,  when  a  master  treated  his  slaves  cruelly  in  a  distillery,  they 
threw  him  into  a  boiling  copper. 

•2.  On  all  subjects  connected  with  Russian  institutions  the  Russia  of  D.  Mackenzie 
Wallace,  who  has  thoroughly  studied  the  subject,  and  spent  six  years  in  the  country 
for  the  purpose,  is  indisputably  the  best  authority.  Russians  themselves  constantly 
say  that  they  knew  nothing  of  their  own  institutions  till  they  read  Wallace. 


I  o  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

divorced  from  their  land  and  to  be  sold  separately  by 
their  masters  ;  they  forget  their  proverb,  "  The  heaven 
is  high  and  the  Tsar  is  far  off,"  with  which  they  lamented 
under  their  oppressors  ;  they  forget  that,  till  the  time  of 
Alexander  I.,  who  put  a  stop  to  it,  their  physical  and 
mental  powers  were  abundantly  described  (before  their 
public  sale)  in  the  newspapers,  a  coachman  and  a  cow 
being  often  advertised  in  the  same  column.  Cases, 
however,  of  great  personal  cruelty  on  the  part  of  masters 
were  certainly  even  then  rare  and  severely  punished  ;  one 
of  the  worst  being  that  of  a  lady  of  the  Saltikov  family, 
who  was  sentenced  by  Catherine  II.  to  imprisonment  for 
life  for  having  murdered  several  of  her  female  serfs.  A 
story  is  also  told  of  the  severe  punishment  of  a  lady  who, 
feeling  that  her  personal  charms  were  on  the  wane,  had 
made  one  of  her  serfs  her  hairdresser,  and  shut  him  up 
for  life  lest  he  should  tell  what  he  saw. 

One  of  the  greatest  outward  changes  which  have  come 
over  Russian  "society  "  since  the  emancipation  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  change  of  language.  Formerly,  when  there 
were  two  separate  peoples — masters  and  serfs — the  former 
always  talked  French  and  the  latter  Russ  :  now  Russ  is 
spoken  everywhere.  Formerly  people  said  of  the  works 
of  Gogol  or  Lermontoff,  "  Oh,  it  is  only  Russian,"  but 
now  Russian  literature  is  preferred. 

In  its  general  aspects  no  European  country  has  changed 
with  modern  times  so  little  as  Russia.  It  will  be  found 
by  travelers  that  if  the  quotations  given  in  these  pages 
from  the  writings  of  sixteenth-century  tourists  describe 
the  appearance  and  buildings  of  Moscow  and  other  places 
as  they  are  now,  they  equally  apply  to  the  manners  and 
habits  of  the  inhabitants  now  as  they  did  then.  With 
much  of  shrewdness  and  originality  the  Russian  peasant 
combines  still  such  uncouthness  and  uncleanliness  that  a 
traveler  must  have  either  considerable  apathy  or  consid- 
erable patience  not  to  be  prejudiced  against  him,  before 
his  more  hidden  virtues  have  made  themselves  felt. 

Many  are  the  popular  superstitions  which  have  lingered 
on  unaltered  even  from  pagan  times,  and  which  will  be 
noticed  in  the  description  of  places  where  they  especially 
occur.  Even  a  certain  degree  of  actual  paganism  still 
exists  in  many  remote  spots,  and  in  others  the  attributes 


POPULAR  SUPERSTITIONS.  II 

of  pagan  deities  and  the  honors  paid  to  them  are  only 
transferred  to  popular  saints  of  the  Greco-Russian  Church. 
It  is  also  believed  that,  when  Satan  fell  from  heaven,  some 
of  his  hosts  sought  a  refuge  under  the  earth,  the  Karliki 
or  dwarfs  ;  some  in  the  woods,  the  Lyeshie  or  sylvan 
demons  ;  some  in  the  waters,  Vodyanuie  or  water-sprites  ; 
some  in  the  air,  Vozdushnuie  or  storm-spirits  ;  some  in 
the  houses,  Domovnie  or  domestic  spirits  ; '  and  all  this 
strange  mythology  has  its  part  in  the  daily  life,  with  its 
hopes  and  fears,  of  a  Russian  peasant.  The  intensity  of 
superstition  often  oppresses  and  fetters  the  most  ordinary 
acts  of  life.  In  the  Nijegorod  government  it  is  even  for- 
bidden to  break  up  the  smoldering  remains  of  fagots 
with  a  poker  ;  he  who  performs  such  an  act  might  be 
causing  his  nearest  deceased  relations  to  fall  through  into 
hell  ! 

Toward  their  icons,  the  sacred  pictures  of  which  we 
shall  see  so  much  in  Russia,  the  feeling  of  the  peasantry 
is  unchanged  since  George  Turberville,  the  secretary  to 
Randolph,  who  went  as  ambassador  from  Elizabeth  of 
England  to  Ivan  the  Terrible,  described  the  "  Manners  of 
the  Countrey  and  People"  in  "Letters  in  Verse."2 

"  Their  idoles  have  their  hearts,  on  God  they  never  call, 
Unless  it  be  (Nichola  Baugh)  that  hangs  against  the  wall. 
The  house  that  hath  no  god,  or  painted  saint  within, 
Is  not  to  be  resorted  to,  that  roofe  is  full  of  sinne." 

And  the  ambassadors  of  the  Duke  of  Holstein  wrote — 

"  When  a  Muscovite  enters  a  house  or  a  chamber  hesaiesnot  a  word 
till  he  hath  fixt  his  eyes  on  the  saint  he  looks  for,  or  if  he  finds  him 
not,  asks,  Jest  le  Bock,  Where  is  the  God  ?  As  soon  as  he  perceives 
him,  he  makes  him  one  very  low  reverence,  or  more,  and  pronounces 
at  every  time,  Gospodi  Pornilui  :  then  he  returns  to  the  company,  and 
salutes  them." 

Icons — pictures  covered  with  metal  except  the  faces 
and  hands — are  of  Byzantine  crigin,  and  all  the  most 
ancient  icons  are  the  work  of  Greek  artists,  who  had  Rus- 
sian pupils :  it  has  never  been  permissible  to  a/ter  the 
type.  A  miraculous  icon,  and  there  are  many  of  these,  is 
usually  affirmed  to  be  pointed  out  by  a  vision,  and  then 

i  Ralston,  Songs  of  the  Russian  People. 
•2  Hakluyfs  Voyages^  vol.  i.  p.  432. 


1 2  S  TUD1ES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

to  be  found  buried  in  the  earth,  or  hanging  in  a  tree  ;  but 
its  miraculous  qualities  must  be  recognized  by  "  the  Most 
Holy  Synod,"  before  it  is  given  to  the  adoration  of  the 
orthodox.  The  most  ordinary  icons,  however,  receive 
greater  veneration  than  any  of  the  images  in  Roman 
Catholic  churches.  Even  in  the  old  romances,  when  a 
warrior  is  represented  as  reaching  the  hall  of  the  heroes, 
he  fastens  up  his  horse  to  the  steel  rings  fixed  in  the 
oaken  pillars  at  the  entrance,  and,  entering  the  presence- 
chamber,  bows  to  the  sacred  picture  before  noticing  the 
princes  and  princesses  and  the  rest  of  the  assembly. 
The  multitude  of  icons,  frequently  glistening  with  gold 
and  jewels,  and  ever  surrounded  by  burning  lights,  gives 
an  indescribable  richness  to  a  Russian  church.  Thus,  to 
the  devout  Russian,  even  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  would  be 
bare  and  cold.  But  to  the  orthodox  Russian  the  Pope  is 
no  better  than  the  first  Protestant,  the  founder  of  German 
rationalism.  An  Eastern  Patriarch *  does  not  hesitate 
to  speak  of  the  Papal  Supremacy  as  "  the  chief  heresy  of 
the  latter  days,  which  flourishes  now  as  its  predecessor 
Arianism  flourished  before  it  in  the  earlier  ages,  and 
which  shall,  in  like  manner,  be  cut  down  and  vanish 
away." 

Many  of  the  Russian  services  are  exceedingly  magnifi- 
cent and  striking,  and  it  has  been  endeavored,  in  the 
descriptions  of  the  different  churches,  to  give  such 
explanations  as  may  assist  a  stranger — bewildered  by  the 
strange  tones  as  well  as  the  labyrinthine  ceremonies — in 
understanding  them.  Few  travelers,  however,  will  have 
patience  to  stay  through  the  whole  services,  as  their 
length  is  enormous. 

"  '  Reveillez-moi  quand  vous  en  serez  an  bon  Dieu.'  disait  un  ambas- 
sadeur  endormi  dans  une  eglise  russe  par  la  liturgie  imperiale." — 
M.  de  Custine. 

Importance  of  outward  forms  is  much  more  insisted 
upon  by  the  Greek  than  the  Roman  Church.  This  is 
seen  in  the  strict  observance  of  feasts  and  fasts  ;  the 
careful  appropriation  of  vestments  and  ornaments  ;  above 
all,  in  Ihe  manner  in  which  the  sign  of  the  cross  is  to  be 
made,  the  Russians  all  making  it  with  three  fingers,  except 

i  Encyclic  Epistle  of  the  Eastern  Patriarch^  1848. 


RUSSIAN  SUBSERVIENCE.  i$ 

the  Rashkolniks  or  dissenters,  who  use  only  two  :  a  bloody 
war  once  resulted  from  this  distinction.1  Every  outward 
form  that  symbolizes  the  Trinity  is  especially  insisted 
upon.  An  archbishop  of  Novgorod  declared  that  those 
who  repeat  the  word  Allelujah  only  twice  instead  of  three 
times,  at  especial  points  in  the  liturgy,  sing  to  their  own 
damnation.2  As  to  the  essential  points  of  religion  there 
is  greater  laxity  ;  formerly  the  orthodox  were  obliged 
(rather  by  the  State  than  the  Church)  to  communicate 
twice  a  year,  but  now  this  is  not  compulsory,  except  in 
accordance  with  ecclesiastical  teaching. 

"  In  the  Greek  Church  there  are  seven  mysteries,  or  sacraments  as 
they  are  called  in  the  Latin  Church,  viz.,  baptism,  the  chrism  or  bap- 
tismal unction,  the  Eucharist,  confession,  ordination,  marriage,  and 
the  holy  oil  or  extreme  unction. 

•'  A  mystery  is  defined  to  be  '  a  ceremony  or  act  appointed  by  God, 
in  which  God  giveth  or  signifieth  to  us  His  grace.'  Baptism  and  the 
Eucharist  are  called  the  chief  ;  of  the  rest,  says  Father  Plato,  some 
are  to  be  received  by  all  Christians,  as  baptismal  unction  and  con- 
fession ;  but  ordination,  marriage,  and  the  holy  oil,  are  not  obligatory 
upon  all." — King,  "Rites  and  Ceremonies  of  the  Greek  Church  in 
Russia. " 

The  characteristic  which  will  probably  strike  foreign- 
ers most  in  the  Russian  people  is  their  extreme  subserv- 
ience to  authority,  in  whatever  rank  they  may  be. 

"  The  Russians,  with  all  their  acuteness,  do  whatever  they  are 
commanded  without  question.  The  soldier  never  asks  the  reason  why. 
'  Such  is  the  command  '  (Prikaz),  is  his  well-known  reply,  when  asked 
why  he  stands  there,  or  does  this  or  that,  or  leaves  it  undone.  We 
hear  of  soldiers  who,  when  a  boat  containing  a  number  of  officers  was 
upset  on  the  Neva,  were  ordered  to  save  them  with  these  words, 
'  Rescue  especially  all  the  officers  of  the  Guards.1  '  Are  you  officers 
of  the  Guards  ?  '  demanded  the  men  of  the  first  persons  they  reached  ; 
the  water  alreadv  filled  the  throats  of  the  unfortunate  men.  and  they 
were  allowed  to  sink.  Upon  another  occasion  the  parade  ground  in 
St.  Petersburg,  the  streets  being  very  dusty,  had  to  be  watered  before 
a  review.  A  sudden  shower  of  rain  fell  ;  but  the  detachment  sent  to 
execute  this  operation  proceeded  with  their  work,  for  '  they  were  so 
commanded.'  These  and  similar  anecdotes  are  told  ;  I  can  not  vouch 
for  their  truth,  as  the  wits  of  St.  Petersburg,  a  numerous  class,  are 
fond  of  such  stories.  Something  characteristic  of  the  Russian,  how- 
ever, is  always  to  be  found  in  them  ;  and  although  we  in  the  West 
may  laugh  at  the  consequences  of  this  pedantry,  still  when  we  hear 
that  a  soldier  during  an  inundation  would  not  abandon  his  post,  even 

i  See  Heber's Journal.  z  Wallace,  ii.  2. 


14  ST  UDIE  S  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

when  the  water  reached  up  to  his  neck,  and  was  drowned  where  he 
stood,  we  can  imagine  what  a  mighty  power  is  contained  in  this  Rus- 
sian spirit  of  obedience.  I  will  only  mention  two  other  of  these  char- 
acteristic traits,  which  I  have  heard  upon  good  authority.  Before  the 
assault  of  Warsaw  two  grenadiers  were  standing  at  their  post  ;  the 
one,  a  recruit,  asked  the  other,  an  old  soldier,  pointing  to  the  Polish 
entrenchments  before  them,  '  What  think  you,  brother,  shall  we  be  able 
to  take  those  works  ?'  4I  think  not,'  replied  the  old  warrior,  'they 
are  very  strong. '  '  Ay,  but  suppose  we  are  ordered  to  take  them  ? ' 
1  That  is  another  affair  :  if  it  is  ordered,  we  will  take  them  ! '  At  the 
conflagration  of  the  Winter  Palace,  a  priest  rushed  through  the  por- 
tion of  the  building  which  was  on  fire  to  rescue  the  pyx  :  he  succeeded 
in  reaching  it,  and  hastened  back  :  in  one  of  the  passages  he  perceived 
a  soldier  though  the  smoke  :  '  Come  away,'  he  exclaimed,  '  or  you  are 
lost  ! '  '  No,'  said  the  soldier,  *  this  is  my  post,  but  give  me  your  bless- 
ing.' He  was  immovable  ;  the  priest  gave  him  his  blessing,  and  saved 
himself  with  difficulty  :  the  soldier  was  never  seen  again." — Hax- 
thausen,  "  The  Russian  Empire" 

An  anecdote,  characteristic  at  once  of  the  imperturb- 
able deference  of  a  Russian  to  his  superiors,  and  of  the 
Grand-Duke  Constantine  whom  it  concerned,  is  told  by 
M.  de  Custine.  It  occurred  at  Warsaw,  in  the  time  of 
Alexander  I. 

"  Un  jour  Constantin  passait  sa  garde  en  revue  ;  et  voulant  montrer 
a  un  etranger  de  marque  a  quel  point  la  discipline  etait  observee 
dans  1'armee  russe,  il  descend  de  cheval,  s'approache  d'ttn  de  ses  gene'- 
raux,  et  sansle  pre'venir  d'aucune  fafon,  sans  articuler  un  reproche,  il 
lui  perce  tranquillement  le  pied  de  son  epee.  Le  general  demeure 
immobile  :  on  1'emporte  quand  le  grand-due  a  retire  son  epee." 

Most  of  the  punishments  still  in  use  in  Russia  are  of 
Tartar  origin,  the  most  terrible  being  that  of  the  knout, 
introduced  under  Ivan  the  Terrible.  In  former  times, 
cruel  punishments  with  whips  used  to  be  ordained  in 
episcopal  circulars  as  well  as  in  Imperial  ukases.  Gogol 
declares,  however,  that  many  Russians  become  quite  indif- 
ferent to  floggings,  and  only  think  them  "  a  little  stronger 
than  good  brandy  and  pepper."  Exile  to  Siberia,  which 
sounds  so  terrible  to  us,  is  also  less  appalling  to  Russians, 
from  their  having  none  of  the  homesickness  which  affects 
English  in  exile.  But  much  naturally  depends  upon 
whether  the  exile  is  to  be  in  north  or  south  Siberia  ;  as,  in 
the  latter,  there  are  many  very  pleasant  places  of  resi- 
dence, and  its  towns  are  said  to  be  much  more  lively 
than  many  Russian  cities.  Olearius  describes  the  Tartar 


R  US  SI  A  N  BRIBER  Y.  15 

punishment  of  the  pravezh,  which  used  to  be  inflicted 
upon  debtors,  who,  till  they  made  restitution,  were  daily 
beaten  in  public  upon  the  shin-bone  for  an  hour  together, 
by  the  common  executioner  ;  only,  sometimes,  by  a  bribe, 
the  debtors  were  permitted  to  put  a  thin  iron  plate  inside 
their  boot  to  receive  the  blows.  But  "  if  the  debtor  have 
not  to  satisfie,"  said  the  law,  "  he  must  be  sold,  with  his 
wife  and  children,  to  the  creditor." 

"  They  say  the  lion's  paw  gives  judgment  of  the  beast  : 
And  so  you  may  deeme  of  the  great,  by  reading  of  the  least," 

says  George  Turberville,  and  thus  the  bribe  offered  by 
the  debtor  to  his  executioner  is  only  a  specimen  of  what 
may  still  be  seen  in  every  class  of  society  in  Russia. 
"  There  is  only  one  honest  official  in  all  my  empire,  and 
it  is  myself,"  was  said,  probably  with  truth,  by  the  Emper- 
or Nicholas.  In  a  Russian  trial  it  is  not  unusual  for  a 
prisoner  to  promise  his  advocate  10,000  roubles  if  he  is 
acquitted,  5,000  if  he  has  only  a  year's  imprisonment, 
1,000  if  he  is  sent  to  Siberia  ;  and  for  this  a  regular  con- 
tract is  drawn  up.  "  The  cause  is  decided,  when  the 
judge  has  taken  a  present,"  has  long  been  a  Russian 
proverb.  An  example  of  the  way  in  which  bribery  is 
everywhere  rampant  may  be  seen  in  a  fact  of  recent 
occurrence.  The  theaters  are  maintained  by  the  govern- 
ment, and  the  manager  is  bound  by  an  agreement  to 
have  a  certain  number  of  actors.  Only  lately  an  official 
was  sent  to  one  of  the  principal  theaters  in  St.  Petersburg 
to  see  that  there  were  the  right  number  in  the  corps  de 
ballet.  Its  members  were  ordered  out  and  marched 
round  and  round.  The  officer  kept  his  eyes  low  and 
counted  the  number  of  legs  ;  while  the  same  actors  made 
the  circuit  several  times.  There  were  not  half  the  right 
number  of  persons,  but  the  officer  had  counted  the  right 
number  of  legs,  and  he  was  too  deeply  implicated  in 
peculations  of  his  own  to  be  unpleasant. 

"  II  faut  le  dire,  les  Russes  de  toutes  les  classes  conspirent  avec  un 
accord  merveilleux  a  faire  triompher  chez  aux  la  duplicite.  Us  ont 
une  dexterite  dens  le  mensonge,  un  naturel  dans  la  faussete." — M.  de 
Custine. 

All  the  public  offices  of  Russia  are  full  of  civilized 


1 6  STUDIES  IN  A> USS1A . 

robbers  who  have  not  courage  to  work  in  open  day. 
How  the  people  hate  and  despise  the  official  world  which 
pillages  them  !  "  World  of  apes  in  uniform  ;  world  of 
slaves  proud  of  their  fetters  :  scum  of  society,  marsh  in 
which  honor  is  ingulfed."  Count  Bledow  said  that  one 
ought  to  write  over  the  doors  of  certain  public  offices  in 
Russia — "  Lasciate  ogni  conscienza,  voi  che  entrate!" 
Bureaucracy  is  an  ulcer  which  ceaselessly  devours  the 
country. 

"Favoritism  is  the  key  stone  of  Russian  government,  and  adoration 
of  Saints  the  pillar  of  their  faith.  The  Sovereign  is  disregarded  in  the 
obeisance  offered  to  his  parasites  ;  and  the  Creator  forgotten  in  the 
worship  of  his  creatures." — Clarke. 

"  Dans  la  vie  russe,  tout  est  fumee!  On  ne  voit  que  des  formes 
nouvelles  ou  des  choses  ebauchees.  Tout  le  monde  se  presse,  se 
pousse,  et  1'on  n'arrive  a  rien.  Le  vent  tourne  ;  on  se  jette  du  cote 
oppose.  .  .  .  Vapeur,  fumee  !  " — Tourgue'neff. 

The  "  General  Inspector  "  (Revizor)  of  Gogol,  which 
gives  a  terrible  picture  of  the  cringing,  cheating,  tyran- 
nizing officials,  appropriately  bears  on  the  title-page  : 
"  You  must  not  blame  the  looking-glass  if  your  face  is 
crooked." 

"  Savez  vous  ce  que  c'est  que  de  voyager  en  Russie  ?  Pour  un 
esprit  leger,  c'est  de  se  nourrir  d'illusions  ;  mais  pour  quiconque  a  les 
yeux  ouverts  et  joint  a  un  peu  de  puissance  d'observation  une  humeur 
independante,  c'est  un  travail  continu,  opiniatre.  et  qui  consiste  a  dis- 
cerner  peniblement  a  tout  propos  deux  nations  luttant  dans  une  multi- 
tude. Ces  deux  nations,  c'est  la  Russie  telle  qu'elle  est,  et  la  Russie 
telle  qu'on  voudrait  la  montrer  a  1'Europe. — M.  de  Cttstine. 

There  is  still  much  of  the  same  policy  which  character- 
ized the  last  century,  when  one  of  her  former  favorites, 
rewarded  hy  the  governorship  of  Moscow,  complained  to 
Catherine  II.  that  no  one  sent  their  children  to  school, 
and  she  answered — 

"  Mon  cher  prince,  ne  vous  plaignez  pas  de  ce  que  les  Russes  n'ont 
pas  le  desir  de  s'instruire  ;  si  j'institue  des  ecoles,  ce  n'est  pas  pour 
nous,  c'est  pour  1  Europe,  ou  il  faut  maintenir  notre  rang  dans 
I" opinion  ;  mais  du  jour  ounos  paysans  voudraient  s'eclairer,  ni  vousni 
moi  nous  ne  resterions  a  nos  places.'' 

A  quaint  instance  of  the  recognized  substitution  of 
forms  for  realities  which  still  pervades  even  small  things 


THIEVES.  1 7 

in  Russia  is  given  in  "  Clarke's  Travels,"  written  at  a 
time  when  there  was  less  ready  money  in  the  country  than 
there  is  now. 

"Dr.  Rogerson,  at  St.  Petersburg,  as  I  am  informed,  regularly 
received  his  snuff-box,  and  as  regularly  carried  it  to  a  jeweler  for  sale. 
The  jeweler  sold  it  again  to  the  first  nobleman  who  wanted  a  fee  for 
his  physician,  so  that  the  doctor  obtained  his  box  again  ;  and  at  last 
the  matter  became  so  well  understood  between  the  jeweler  and  phy- 
sician, that  it  was  considered  by  both  parties  as  a  sort  of  bank-note, 
and  no  words  were  necessary  in  transacting  the  sale  of  it." 

Doubtless  it  is  owing  to  the  way  in  which  habits  of 
peculation  in  the  upper  classes  are  recognized  and  winked 
at,  that  the  habit  of  theft  has  such  a  hold  upon  the  lower 
orders.  There  are  no  such  thieves  as  the  Russians. 
Peter  the  Great  once  observed  that  if  in  church,  in  the 
middle  of  a  prayer,  one  of  his  subjects  found  that  he 
could  rob  his  neighbor,  he  would  certainly  do  it.  When 
robbing  a  church,  a  man  will  often  offer  several  roubles' 
worth  of  candles  to  a  neighboring  icon,  if  it  will  only  help 
him  to  pull  out  the  jewels  of  the  one  he  is  attacking. 

"  The  French  ambassador  was  one  day  vaunting  the  dexterity  of 
the  Parisian  thieves  to  one  of  the  grand-dukes.  The  grand-duke  was 
of  opinion  that  the  St.  Petersburg  thieves  were  quite  their  equals  ;  and 
offered  to  lay  a  wager,  that  if  the  ambassador  would  dine  with  him  the 
next  day,  he  would  cau-e  his  excellency's  watch,  signet-ring,  or  any 
other  articles  of  his  dress  which  he  thought  most  secure,  to  be  stolen 
from  him  before  the  dessert  was  over.  The  ambassador  accepted  the 
wager,  and  the  grand-duke  sent  immediately  to  the  head  of  the  police, 
desiring  him  to  send  the  adroitest  thief  he  might  happen  to  have  in 
custody  at  the  time.  The  man  was  dressed  in  livery,  instructed  what 
to  do,  and  promised  a  pardon  if  he  accomplished  his  task  well.  The 
ambassador  had  named  his  watch  as  the  particular  object  of  attention, 
both  for  himself  and  the  thief  ;  when  he  had  got  the  watch,  the  sup- 
posed servant  was  to  give  the  grand-duke  a  sign. 

The  dinner  began,  the  preliminary  whet,  the  soups  and  the  roti 
came  and  disappeared  in  their  turns  ;  the  red,  white,  Greek,  Spanish, 
and  French  wines  sparkled  successively  in  the  glance  of  the  guests. 
The  ambassador  kept  close  guard  on  his  watch,  and  the  grand-duke, 
observing  his  earnest  anxiety,  smiled  with  good-humored  archness. 
The  pretended  lackey  was  busily  assisting  in  the  removal  of  the  dishes, 
the  dinner  was  nearly  over,  and  the  prince  awaited  with  impatience  the 
expected  signal.  Suddenly  his  countenance  brightened  ;  he  turned  to 
the  ambassador,  who  was  deep  in  conversation  with  his  neighbor,  and 
asked  him  what  was  the  hour.  His  excellency  triumphantly  put  his 
hand  into  his  pocket,  he  had  had  it  on  his  watch  a  few  minutes  before, 
and,  to  the  amusement  of  all.  but  particularly  of  the  grand-duke,  drew 


1 8  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

out  a  very  neatly  cut  turnip  !  A  general  laugh  followed.  The  ambas- 
sador, somewhat  embarrassed,  would  take  a  pinch  of  snuff,  and  felt  in 
all  his  pockets  for  his  gold  snuff-box  :  it  was  gone  !  The  laughter 
became  louder  ;  the  ambassador  in  his  embarrassment  and  vexation 
had  recourse  to  his  seal  ring,  to  turn  it  as  he  was  accustomed  ;  it  was 
gone  !  in  short,  he  found  that  he  had  been  regularly  plundered  of 
every  thing  but  what  had  been  fastened  upon  him  by  the  tailor  and 
shoemaker — of  his  ring,  watch,  handkerchief,  snuff-box,  tooth-pick,  and 
gloves.  The  adroit  rogue  was  brought  before  him,  and  commanded  by 
the  grand-duke  to  give  back  the  stolen  property:  when  to  the  great  sur- 
prise of  the  prince,  the  pickpocket  took  out /ow  watches,  and  presented 
one  to  the  ambassador,  and  one  to  his  imperial  highness  ;  two  rings, 
one  for  the  ambassador,  and  one  for  the  grand-duke  ;  two  snuff-boxes, 
etc.  In  astonishment,  his  highness  now  felt  in  his  pockets  as  the 
ambassador  had  done,  and  found  that  he  too  had  been  stripped  of  his 
movables  in  a  like  manner.  The  grand  duke  solemnly  assured  the 
ambassador  that  he  had  been  quite  unconscious  of  the  theft,  and  was 
disposed  at  first  to  be  angry  with  the  too  dexterous  artist.  However, 
upon  second  thought,  the  fellow,  who  had  enabled  him  to  win  his 
wager  so  triumphantly,  was  dismissed  with  a  present,  and  a  warning 
to  employ  his  talents  in  future  to  more  useful  purposes." — Kohl, 
"  Travels  in  Russia" 

' '  From  the  first  Minister  to  the  general-officer,  from  the  lackey  to 
the  soldier,  all  the  Russians  are  thieves,  plunderers,  and  cheats.  .  .  . 
It  sometimes  happens  that  in  apartments  at  Court,  to  which  none  but 
persons  of  quality  and  superior  officers  are  admitted,  your  pocket-book 
is  carried  off  as  if  you  were  in  a  fair.  The  King  of  Sweden,  after  the 
battle  of  July,  1790,  invited  a  party  of  Russian  officers,  who  had  been 
made  prisoners,  to  dine  with  him.  One  of  them  stole  a  plate  ;  upon 
which  the  offended  king  ordered  them  all  to  be  distributed  among  the 
small  towns,  where  they  never  again  ate  off  silver." — Memoirs  of  the 
Court  of  Petersburg,  1801. 

There  is  proverb  which  says — "  The  Russian  peasant 
may  be  stupid,  but  he  would  only  make  one  mouthful  of 
God  Himself."  Haxthausen  '  gives  a  curious  example  of 
the  popular  measures  which  are  taken  to  discover  a  theft, 
and  which  are  usually  more  efficacious  than  any  inter- 
ference of  the  easily-bribed  police  would  be. 

"In  a  house  at  which  I  called,  a  petty  robbery  had  taken  place  a 
short  time  before  :  and  I  heard  the  method  of  catching  a  thief  on  such 
occasions.  The  mistress  of  the  house  had  sent  for  a  Babushka  (an  old 
woman  reputed  to  be  skilled  in  witchcraft)  ;  and,  as  soon  as  she  was 
come,  the  servants  were  assembled,  and  told  that  iftthe  thief  confessed, 
he  would  be  let  off  with  a  slight  punishment,  otherwise  the  Babushka 
would  soon  find  out  the  culprit.  Before  she  began  her  maneuvers  the 
thief  confessed  and  begged  for  pardon.  The  practice  of  the  Babushka 

i   The  Russian  Empire. 


RUSSIAN  INTEMPERANCE.  19 

is  that  she  takes  a  piece  of  bread  and  kneads  it  into  as  many  little  balls 
as  there  are  persons  present :  then  she  places  a  vessel  of  water  in  front 
of  her,  and  makes  all  those  present  stand  round  it  in  a  semicircle.  Then, 
taking  one  of  the  balls,  she  looks  fixedly  at  the  first  person  and  says, 
'Ivan  Ivanovitch,  if  you  are  guilty,  your  soul  will  fall  into  hell,  as 
this  ball  falls  to  the  bottom  ! '  The  balls  of  the  innocent  are  sup- 
posed to  float,  and  those  of  the  guilty  to  sink  ;  but  no  Russian  culprit 
ever  allows  the  ball  with  his  name  to  touch  the  water." 

That  which  does  most  to  brutalize  the  lower  orders  in 
Russia  is  their  constant  habit  of  intemperance,  though 
this  has  much  modified  since  the  time  of  the  ancient 
Tsars,  by  whose  example  it  was  so  much  encouraged. 
Vodki  (corn  brandy)  is  the  chief  means  of  intoxication. 

"When  God  had  created  the  world  and  wanted  to  people  it,  He 
created  the  different  nations  and  bestowed  rich  gifts  on  them  all  : 
amongst  the  rest  the  Russians,  to  whom  He  gave  vast  lands,  and 
every  thing  else  in  superfluity.  Then  He  asked  each  nation  if  it  was 
satisfied.  All  the  others  said  they  had  enough  ;  but  when  God  asked 
the  Russian,  he  took  off  his  cap,  and  simpered,  '  Na  Vodki,  Lord. '  " — 
Russian  Popular  Story. 

"  Twenty  years,"  said  a  patriarchal  old  Russian,  "  did  Noah  preach 
to  the  people,  but  nothing  would  induce  them  to  give  up  Vodki.  And 
when  the  Lord  sent  the  mighty  deluge,  they  climbed  up  into  the  pine- 
trees,  with  shtoffs  (quarts)  and  pol-shtoffs  (pints)  in  their  bosoms,  and 
drank  there  till  the  water  reached  them." — H.  C.  Romanoff. 

Almost  every  village  festival  ends  in  the  intoxication  of 
most  of  those  who  take  part  in  it.  The  Russian  peasants 
are  not  altered  since  George  Turberville  described — 

"  A  people  passing  rude,  to  vices  vile  inclinde, 
Folk  fit  to  be  of  Bacchus  traine,  so  quaffing  is  their  kinde. 
Drinke  is  their  whole  desire,  the  pot  is  all  their  pride, 
The  sobrest  head  doth  once  a  day  stand  needfull  of  a  guide. 
If  he  to  banket  bid  his  friends,  he  will  not  shrinke 
On  them  at  dinner  to  bestow  a  douzen  kindes  of  drinke  : 
Such  licour  as  they  haue,  and  as  the  country  giues, 
But  chiefly  two,  one  called  kuas,  whereby  the  Mousike  Hues. 
Small  ware  and  waterlike,  and  but  somewhat  tart  in  taste, 
The  rest  is  mead  of  honie  made,  wherewith  their  lips  they  baste. 
And  if  he  goe  unto  his  neighbour  as  a  guest, 
He  cares  for  little  meate.  if  so  his  drinke  be  of  the  best." 

Master  George  Turbervile  out  of  Moscouia 
to  Master  Edward  Dancie,   1 568. 

Drunkenness  amongst  the  peasantry  is  much  increased 
by  the  idleness  enforced  on  the  Church-festivals,  which 
reduce  the  year  to  a  hundred  and  thirty  days  of  work.  If 


20  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

the  Church  would  only  direct  her  solicitude  to  a  peasant's 
drinking,  and  leave  him  to  eat  what  he  pleases,  she  would 
exercise  a  material  beneficial  influence.  As  it  is,  the 
Russian  peasant  is  expected  to  fast  for  seven  weeks  of 
Lent,  for  three  weeks  in  June,  from  the  beginning  of 
November  till  Christmas,  and  on  all  Wednesdays  and 
Fridays  through  the  rest  of  the  year.  Many,  however, 
are  the  subterfuges  by  which  the  full  rigor  of  these  fasts 
is  evaded. 

"  The  cunning  of  the  Moujiks,  in  eluding  the  laws  and  the  ordi- 
nances of  religion,  surpasses  the  art  of  the  devil  himself.  It.  is  said, 
'  Ye  shall  eat  no  flesh  on  fast-days  ;  ye  shall  not  boil  eggs  in  water  on 
your  hearths,  nor  eat  of  any  such  eggs.'  A  peasant,  not  inclined  to 
forego  the  enjoyment  of  eggs  on  a  fast-day,  knocks  a  nail  into  the  wall, 
suspends  the  egg  from  it  by  a  wire,  and,  placing  his  lamp  under- 
neath, contrives  to  cook  it  in  this  manner.  He  defends  himself  to 
a  priest  who  has  caught  him  in  the  act  by  the  assurance  that  he  did 
not  think  that  any  breach  of  the  commandment.  '  Ah,  the  devil  him- 
self must  have  taught  thee  that  ! '  cries  the  priest  in  high  displeasure. 
'  Well  then,  yes,  father,  I  must  confess  it — it  was  the  devil  who 
taught  me.'  '  No,  that  is  not  true,' cries  the  devil,  who.  unobserved, 
is  one  of  the  party  sitting  on  the  stove,  and  laughing  heartily  as  he 
looks  at  the  cunningly-placed  egg.  '  It  is  not  I  that  taught  him  this 
trick,  for  I  see  it  now  for  the  first  time  myself.'  " — Kriloff. 

Personal  washing,  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  under- 
stood in  other  European  countries,  is  unknown  amongst 
the  lower  classes  in  Russia.  Almost  everyone  goes  from 
time  to  time  to  the  public  vapor  baths,  but  with  soap  and 
water  in  their  own  homes  they  are  wholly  unacquainted, 
and  their  thick  woolen  garments  are  a  terrible  receptacle 
for  vermin.  Matters  are  not  much  changed  since  Cus- 
tine  wrote — 

' '  Avant  de  se  nettoyer  elles-memes,  les  personnes  qui  font  usage 
des  bains  publics  devraient  songer  a  nettoyer  les  maisons  de  bains,  les 
baigneurs,  les  planches,  le  linge,  et  tout  ce  qu'on  touche,  et  tout  ce 
qu'on  voit,  et  tout  ce  qu'on  respire  dans  ces  antres  ou  les  vrais  Mosco- 
vites  vont  entretenir  leur  soi-disant  proprete,  et  hater  la  vieillesse  par 
Tabus  de  la  vapeur  et  de  la  transpiration  qu'elle  provoque." 

The  bath,  necessary  to  health,  does  not  inspire  cleanli- 
ness. If  the  Russians  did  not  use  it,  they  might  see  the 
charm  of  cleanliness,  as  well  as  of  washing  hands  and 
faces,  now  never  thought  of.  A  description  of  the  peas- 


CLEANLINESS.  2 1 

ants  written   at   the  beginning  of  the  century   is  almost 
equally  applicable  now. 

41  Their  hair  is  universally  in  a  state  not  to  be  described  ;  and  their 
bodies  are  only  divested  of  vermin  when  they  frequent  the  bath. 
Upon  those  occasions,  their  shirts  and  pelisses  are  held  over  a  hot 
stove,  and  the  heat  occasions  the  vermin  to  fall  off.  Suwarof  used  to 
cleanse  his  shirt  in  this  manner  during  a  campaign  ;  stripping  before 
the  common  soldier,  at  the  fires  lighted  in  their  camps.  It  is  a  fact 
too  notorious  to  dispute,  that  from  the  Emperor  to  the  meanest  slave, 
throughout  the  vast  empire  of  all  the  Russias,  including  all  its  princes, 
nobles,  priests,  and  peasants,  there  exists  not  a  single  individual  in  a 
thousand  whose  body  is  not  thus  infested.'' — Clarke  s  "  Travels" 

"  The  people  beastly  bee. 

I  write  not  all  I  know,  I  touch  but  here  and  there, 
For  if  I  should,  my  penne  would  pinch,  and  eke  offend  I  feare. " 

George   Turberville, 

Nearly  every  thing,  however  nasty  to  our  ideas,  is  still 
accepted  as  food  by  the  lower  classes  of  Russians,  though 
no  one  is  more  observant  of  fasts.  It  is,  as  it  was  three 
hundred  years  ago — 

"  The  poore  is  very  innumerable,  and  Hue  most  miserably  :  for  I 
have  scene  them  eate  the  pickle  of  Hearring  and  other  stinking  fish  : 
nor  the  fish  can  not  be  so  stinking  nor  rotten,  but  they  will  eate  it  and 
praise  it  to  be  more  wholesome  than  other  fish  or  fresh  meate.  In 
mine  opinion  there  be  no  such  people  under  the  sunne  for  their  hard- 
nesse  of  liuing." — Richard  Chance  lour,  1553. 

Amongst  the  favorite  dishes  of  the  people  are  Borch, 
a  soup  made  of  meat,  sausages,  beetroot,  cabbage,  and 
vinegar  ;  Varenookha,  corn-brandy  boiled  with  fruit  and 
spice  ;  and  Kostia ,  boiled  rice  and  plums  (eaten  by  all 
Russian  peasants  on  Christmas  Eve).  Cabbage  in  every 
form  is  adored  by  the  people.  Gherkins  (Agourtzi)  are 
very  popular,  and  the  peasants  will  eat  them  with  their 
tea.  Every  thing  pungent  or  acid  is  liked  ;  indeed  the 
scorbutic  effects  of  other  greasy  food  are  probably  coun- 
teracted by  the  quantities  of  sour  quass  and  pickled 
cucumbers  or  cabbage  and  raw  apples  which  are  taken. 

Finally,  the  Russian  character — owing  to  long  years  of 
oppression — will  be  found  to  be  essentially  silent  and  sad. 
In  the  south  especially,  their  endless  songs,  which  serve 
them  at  once  as  speech  and  as  history,  are  all  melancholy. 
At  their  festas  the  people  drink  much  and  talk  little. 


2  2  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

At  their  fairs,  an  unexciting  see-saw  is  the  favorite 
amusement  (and  there  are  few  country  houses  of  the 
upper  classes  which  are  without  it).  Formerly  the  peas- 
ants used  to  dance  the  Barina  (like  the  Tarantella)  accom- 
panied by  the  Balalaika,  but  now  this  is  seldom  seen. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ST.      PETERSBURG. 

TRAVELERS  may  rest  both  mind  and  eyes  all  the 
way  from  Calais  to  St.  Petersburg,  there  is  so  little 
to  see  ;  only  as,  across  the  frightful  sandy  flats,  they  draw 
near  Dantzic,  they  may  observe  storks  strutting  jauntily 
through  the  fields  after  the  farm  laborers.  Dantzic  is  the 
finest  of  the  remarkable  group  of  Prussian  towns  which 
He  far  away  from  all  else,  and  almost  upon  the  confines 
of  Russia,  and  it  is  well  worth  while  to  make  the  detour 
of  a  few  miles  which  alone  is  necessary  to  visit  it.  Its 
wonderful  old  houses,  divided  and  redivided  by  the 
twisting  Motlau,  cluster  round  an  oblong  square,  at  the 
end  of  which  stands  the  Rathhaus  with  its  splendid  red 
tower,  and,  hard  by,  the  gothic  Artus  Halle,  filled  with 
old  sculpture,  pictures,  models  of  ships,  and  stags'  heads 
in  stone,  jumbled  together  like  a  nightmare.  In  many  of 
the  surrounding  streets,  especially  in  the  Frauen  Gasse, 
all  the  houses  have  tiny  forecourts,  often  raised  high 
aloft,  with  stone  parapets  worthy  of  Venice  in  the  rich- 
ness of  their  intricate  sculpture,  or  adorned  with  reliefs 
of  some  quaint  German  legend,  and  approached  by 
broad  stone  stairs,  ending,  at  the  street,  in  huge  stone 
balls  or  pillars.  Here,  an  artist  might  find  a  thousand 
subjects  amongst  the  groups  of  children  at  play  upon 
the  little  platforms,  where  the  tender  green  of  vine  and 
Virginian  creeper  plays  amid  the  brown  shadows  of  the 
architecture. 

An  hour's  railway  takes  us  from  Dantzic  to  Marien- 
burg,  a  quiet  town  of  the  middle  ages,  with  a  primitive 
little  inn,  Ko'nig  von  Preussen,  in  its  suburbs,  rather  too 
near  the  pig-market,  perhaps,  but  charming  in  its  outside 
balconies  and  exquisitely  clean  little  rooms.  Opposite, 
on  a  slight  hill,  girded  by  gigantic  moats,  rises  the  immense 


24  5  TUDIE  S  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

brick  palace  of  the  Teutonic  Knights,  once  absolute  sov- 
ereigns of  this  bit  of  Germany.  A  figure  of  the  \  irgin, 
thirty-eight  feet  high,  is  a  conspicuous  feature  on  the  out 
side  of  one  of  the  towers.  The  gothic  rooms  in  which 
the  Grand  Master  held  his  stately  court  are  still  perfect, 
but  have  been  "  restored  "  into  all  the  ugliness  that  glazed 
pavements,  bad  gaudy  frescoes,  and  worse  and  gaudier 
glass  can  give  them.  The  church  is  grand  in  proportions 
as  any  cathedral,  but  here  also  the  decaying  loveliness  of 
the  beautiful  old  color  is  being  renovated  away,  and  there 
will  soon  be  nothing  left  worth  seeing.  From  the  other 
side  of  the  broad  Vistula,  which  flows  sleepily  at  the  foot 
of  the  castle-hill,  there  is  a  magnificent  view  of  the  build- 
ing, the  most  prominent  feature  being  the  huge  Butter- 
milk tower,  which  the  knights  compelled  the  peasants  tc 
build,  slaking  their  mortar  with  buttermilk. 

Two  hours  more  bring  the  train  to  Konigsberg,  the 
ancient  Prussian  capital  and  coronation-city,  chiefly  mod- 
ern in  its  buildings  and  very  handsome,  but  with  a  noble 
Schloss,  which  stands  well  on  the  edge  of  a  steep,  and 
has  all  the  charm  of  having  been  built  in  many  ages — • 
medieval  fortress,  Italian  palace,  Prussian  country-house. 
It  contains  the  Schloss  Kirche,  like  a  gilded  hall.  Below, 
on  the  island  in  the  Pregel,  is  the  gothic  cathedral,  with 
a  twisted  columnar  staircase,  and  several  interesting 
tombs.  All  the  old  preachers  have  left  their  full-length 
portraits  to  the  church,  in  which,  with  the  costumes  and 
characteristics  of  many  ages,  they  look  down  upon  the 
scene  of  their  former  labors,  giving  much  color  and  dig- 
nity to  the  walls. 

The  express  train  to  St.  Petersburg  leaves  Konigsberg 
at  midday,  and  at  about  6  P.M.  reaches  the  frontier  station 
of  Wierzbolow.  Here  we  recognize  a  new  country  at 
once.  The  porters  and  custom-house  officials  ail  have 
long  white  aprons  and  the  brilliant  scarlet  shirts  with 
which  travelers  afterward  become  so  familiar,  worn  under 
their  black  waistcoats,  but  outside  their  trowsers,  which 
are  tucked  into  huge  jack-boots.  The  prevalence  of  red 
coloring  is  very  picturesque,  and  it  is  intensely  admired 
by  the  natives — in  fact  there  is  only  one  word  in  Russian 
for  "red  "  and  "beautiful." 

For  ourselves,  we  found  the  custom-house  a  mere  form, 


THE  R  U SSI  AN  LANG  UA  GE.  25 

the  officials  most  civil,  and  our  passports,  which  we  gave 
up  on  arriving,  were  brought  back  to  us  in  the  train  ;  but 
we  saw  unfortunate  Russian  ladies  who  were  suspected 
of  smuggling,  having  to  submit  to  seeing  the  whole  con- 
tents of  their  boxes  turned  out  in  an  indiscriminate  heap 
on  the  dirty  floor,  and  being  left  to  sort  and  repack  them 
as  best  they  could,  or,  if  they  could  not  do  it  in  the  time, 
to  wait  piteously  through  the  night  for  another  train. 
Still,  a  bribe  will  do  wonders  :-  the  higher  the  bribe,  the 
slighter  the  search,  and  a  five-rouble  note,  slid  into  the 
hand  of  an  official  on  giving  up  a  passport,  has  such  an 
effect  upon  the  eyesight  that  a  thousand  roubles'  worth  of 
forbidden  goods  often  easily  passes  unobserved.1  Here, 
on  the  very  threshold  of  Russia,  we  found,  as  ever  after- 
ward, that,  though  the  upper  classes  of  Russians  may 
boast  that  the  "  language  of  Europe  "  is  more  familiar  to 
them  than  their  native  tongue,  French  is  perfectly  useless 
for  all  practical  traveling  purposes  ;  sometimes  a  word  or 
two  of  German  may  be  understood,  but  generally  nothing 
but  Russian. 

To  learn  the  most  necessary  Russian  words,  therefore, 
we  devoted  jourselves  during  the  immense  railway  jour- 
neys :  but  the  terrible  alphabet  was  long  a  stumbling- 
block — the  new  hieroglyphics  seemed  possible,  but  to  see 
familiar  European  forms  meaning  other  letters  was  a 
puzzle  indeed.  The  very  abundance  of  its  alphabet  gives 
the  language  such  an  indescribable  richness  that  the  Rus- 
sian word  for  a  foreigner,  especially  a  German,  is  "  the 
dumb,"  "the  speechless."3 

"  In  days  of  doubt,  in  days  of  agonizing  reflections  on  the  fate  of 
my  home,  thou  alone  art  my  stay  and  my  staff  :  oh,  great,  mighty, 
true,  and  free  Russian  tongue  !  If  thou  wert  not,  would  it  be  possi- 
ble not  to  despair  at  this  moment,  and  see  all  that  is  happening  at 
home  ?  But  it  cannot  be  possible  that  such  a  language  would  be  given 
to  any  but  a  great  people." — Ivan  Tourgutneff,  "  Senilia" 

Strugglers  with  the  language  will  be  amused  to  recol- 

1  The   traveler  will   do  well   early  to   make  himself  familiar  with  the  value  of 
Russian  coins — copecks  and  roubles.     The  latter  derive  their  name  from  the    Rus- 
sian word    ''roublion,"  "  I  cut,"  being  cut  from   the  silver  bars  which  formed  the 
grievinka  in  the  old  coinage. 

2  Considering  the  vastness  of   the  country,  there  is  wonderfully  little  variety  of 
dialect  in  Russia      The  Muscovites  say  '•  ento"  for  "  etto"  (that),  and  have  a  few 
trifling  peculiarities,  but  there  is  never  anywhere  an  important   difference  in  the 
language. 


a  6  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

lect  that  Sir  Jerome  Horsey  records  of  our  English  Queen 
Elizabeth  that  she  said,  "  as  for  Russian  she  could  quick- 
lie  lern  it — this  famoust  and  most  copius  language  in 
the  worlde." 

The  Slaves,  Bohemians,  Illyrians,  and  Russians  had  no 
alphabet  before  865.  At  that  time  the  brothers  St.  Cyril 
and  St.  Methodius  of  Thessalonica  were  sent  by  Michael 
Emperor  of  the  East  to  the  Christian  princes  of  Moravia, 
that  they  might  translate  the  sacred  books  from  Greek 
into  the  language  of  the  country.  For  this  purpose  they 
invented  a  special  alphabet,  founded  upon  the  Greek, 
with  the  addition  of  many  new  letters,  and  this  alphabet 
(the  Cyrillian),  with  some  variations,  is  the  one  still  in  use.1 

It  is  long  before  there  is  any  change  from  the  German 
landscapes  we  have  been  accustomed  to  ;  then  forests  of 
firs  thicken  along  the  wayside,  or  woods  of  birches,  which 
have  sprung  up  unseen,  by  the  strange  invariable  and 
inexplicable  habit  which  they  have,  wherever  the  fir-trees 
have  been  cut  down  :  as  Madame  de  Stae'l  says,  "  Le 
triste  bouleau  revient  sans  cesse  dans  cette  nature  peu 
inventive."3  Night  closed  in  upon  a  weird  scene  of 
jagged  pines  rising  from  a  desolate  heath  against  a  lurid 
crimson  sky,  and  left  us  wondering  in  which  of  these  vast 
woods  there  were  bears,  and  in  which  we  should  hear  the 
baying  of  wolves,  if  we  were  traveling  through  here  of  a 
winter's  night. 

Low  fir-woods  and  open  cornfields  at  dawn,  low  fir- 
woods  and  open  cornfields  always,  thirty  hours  of  them, 
and  constant  stoppages  of  eight  minutes  at  bright-looking 
stations,  with  shrubberies  of  lilacs  and  senna,  where  stakan 
tchai — tumblers  of  weak  tea  without  milk,  burning  hot, 
are  offered  on  atray  through  the  carriage-windows.  This 
refreshment  is  universal,  and  soon  comes  to  be  a  matter 
of  course.  The  tea  is  made  in  a  samovar,  and  poured  off 
instantly,  for  tea  which  has  been  standing  many  minutes 
is  regarded  as  almost  poisonous  in  Russia.  You  can  sel- 
dom procure  milk,  but  have  generally  the  option  of  thin 
slices  of  lemon  in  your  tea,  and,  though  always  weak,  the 
tea  is  excellent,  with  the  aromatic  flavor  which  tea  retains 
when  it  has  traveled  overland,  but  which  the  leaves  sold 
in  England  lose  in  coming  by  sea. 

j  Karamsin,  i.  2  Dix  A  nnees  d'Exil. 


RAIL  WA  Y  TRA  VELING.  **J 

The  sleeping-cars  are  most  luxurious.  A  narrow  pas- 
sage, with  a  long  row  of  windows  on  one  side,  on  the 
other  gives  entrance  to  a  series  of  little  rooms,  with  broad 
sofas  on  either  side.  At  night,  a  contrivance  turns  these 
sofas  round,  and  the  most  inviting  little  beds  with  spring 
mattresses  take  their  place.  In  crowded  trains,  a  second 
tier  of  beds  can  be  created  over  the  first,  like  berths  in  a 
ship  ;  but  these  are  seldom  in  use.  There  is  no  jolt  or 
jar,  but  the  immense  length  of  the  carriages  makes  them 
waggle  with  a  movement  like  a  caterpillar's,  and,  after  many 
hours,  often  produces  something  very  like — sea-sickness  ! 

Even  the  express  trains  move  very  slowly,  and  what 
seems  to  foreigners  an  endless  time  is  spent  in  dawdling 
at  the  pretty  country  stations  with  their  brilliant  little  gar- 
dens of  common  flowers,  well  kept  by  the  gardeners  who 
travel  constantly  up  and  down  the  lines  to  look  after  them. 
On  most  of  the  railways  no  train  leaves  a  station  till  a 
telegraphic  message  arrives  from  the  next  that  the  line  is 
clear,  so  great  is  the  fear  of  accidents,  which  consequently 
scarcely  ever  occur  in  Russia.  Perpetually  do  impa- 
tient travelers  hear  the  answer — "  Sei  tshas  !  sei  tshas  ! 
sei  minut  !  "  ("  Directly,  directly,  this  minute"),  and  a 
hundred  times  a  day  are  they  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
the  Russian  proverb  which  says — "  Sei  tshas  "  means  to- 
morrow morning,  and  "  sei  minut  "  this  day  week. 

We  pass  Wilna,  the  chief  town  of  Lithuania,  where 
Napoleon  abandoned  his  unhappy  army  ;  and  Diinaborg 
in  White  Russia,  whence  there  is  a  branch  line  to  Riga, 
the  capital  of  Livonia,  continued  to  Mitau,  where  Louis 
XVIII.  resided  in  exile,  and  where  the  mummified  body  of 
Duke  John  Ernest  Biren,  lover  of  the  Empress  Anne,  is 
still  to  be  seen  attired  in  velvet  and  ruffles.  We  see  the 
bulb-like  cupolas  of  Pskof,  which,  in  its  early  history  was 
the  younger  brother  of  Novogorod  the  Great,  and  had 
the  same  kind  of  vetche,  prince,  and  division  into  "  quar- 
ters."1 It  was  also  the  native  place  of  St.  Ogla,  the  first 
Christian  Grand-Princess,  born  a  peasant-maiden  of 
Pskof.  We  long  to  visit  its  kremlin,  churches,  and  cata- 
combs, which  the  mad  hermit  Salco  protected  from  Ivan 
the  Terrible,2  but  dread  the  horrors  of  its  inns  ;  we  look 

i  Rambaud,  Hist,  de  la  Russie,  p.  117. 

•2  In  1570  Ivan  came  to  massacre  the  inhabitants  of  Pskof,  as  he  had  already  done 


2  8  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

out  for  Gatschina,  with  the  mosque-like  palace,  standing 
in  solitary  dismalness,  where  the  unfortunate  Emperor 
Alexander  III.  has  worn  out  many  days  of  life  in  the  con- 
stant expectation  of  murder  :  and  then  we  watch  for  the 
joyful  moment  of  excitement  when  two  vast  domes 
appear  beyond  the  hitherto  featureless  waste,  one  purple, 
the  other  with  a  brilliant  gleam  of  gold  upon  its  surface 
— St.  Alexander  Nevskoi  and  the  St.  Isaac's  Cathedral 
of  St.  Petersburg. 

Can  we  still  be  in  Europe  ?  we  wonder,  as  we  emerge 
from  the  station  into  the  first  of  those  vast,  arid,  dusty, 
meaningless  squares  with  which  we  afterwards  become  so 
familiar,  and  see  the  multitude  of  droskies — the  smallest 
carriages  in  the  world,  mere  sledges  on  wheels,  with 
drivers  like  old  women  in  low-crowned  hats  and  long 
blue  dressing-gowns  buttoned  from  their  throats  to  their 
feet.  All  have  the  same  mild,  sleepy,  benignant  expres- 
sion, and  the  gowns  of  all,  even  in  this  burning  summer 
weather,  are  wadded  until  they  are  like  feather  beds,  so 
that  all  proportions  of  the  figure  are  lost,  only  a  girdle 
indicating  where  the  waist  should  be.  It  is  useless  to 
pull  at  your  driver  or  even  to  thump  him  as  hard  as  you 
can  to  make  him  turn  round  and  attend  to  you,  for  your 
hand  will  only  sink  deep  into  his  woolly  protection.  You 
would  have  small  chance,  however,  of  conversation  under 
any  circumstances,  for  "  Hold  on  in  God's  name,  little 
father  !  "  your  coachman  exclaims,  as  soon  as  you  have 
made  your  bargain,  and  away  you  go  with  a  leap  and  a 
rush,  rattling,  banging  over  the  stones,  swinging  from 
side  to  side,  pulling  up  with  a  jolt  which  almost  hurls 
your  bones  out  of  your  skin,  and  then,  without  an  instant's 
reprieve,  dashing  on  more  wildly  than  ever.  Marvelously 
adroit  are  the  drivers.  No  whip  is  necessary,  the  voice 
takes  its  place.  A  sort  of  groan  makes  the  foot-passen- 

those  of  Novogorod.  Salco,  or  Nicholas  of  Pskof,  a  naked  hermit,  then  lived  in 
a  hut  by  the  gate.  Ivan,  who  was  terribly  afraid  of  hermits,  saluted  him  and  sent 
him  a  present.  The  hermit  in  return  sent  the  Tsar  a  piece  of  raw  meat.  It  was  in 
Lent,  and  Ivan  recoiled  before  such  a  breach  of  the  laws  of  the  Church.  "  Evasko, 
Evasko''  (Jack,  Jack),  said  the  presumptuous  hermit,  *'  dost  thou  think  that  it  is 
unlawful  to  eat  a  piece  of  beast's  flesh  in  Lent,  and  not  unlawful  to  devour  as 
much  man's  flesh  as  thou  hast  already  ? ''  And  he  pointed  to  a  dark  cloud  in  the 
heavens,  and  declared  that  it  would  destroy  the  Tsar  and  his  army  if  they  touched 
so  much  as  a  hair  in  the  head  of  the  smallest  child  in  that  city  which  God  held  in  his 
keeping.  Ivan  persisted  so  far  as  to  attempt  to  carry  off  the  great  bell  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  but  then  his  horse  fell,  and  he  trembled  before  the  words  of  Nicholas, 
withdrew  his  army,  and  Pskof  was  saved. 


A RRI VAL  AT  ST.  PE TER SB URG. 


29 


engers  give  way  ;  the  pace  of  the  droski  never  relaxes. 
To  make  the  horses  go  faster  the  reins  are  tightened  ;  to 
stop  them  they  are  slackened.  It  is  said  to  be  a  local 
statistic  that  one  foot-passenger  is  killed  daily  in  the  city 
by  the  droskies.  Yet  any  driver  knocking  down  a  foot- 
passenger  is  liable  to  be  flogged  and  fined. 

How  wide  the  streets  are,  how  shabby,  and  (in  summer) 
how  empty,  only  a  foot-passenger  or  two  being  visible  in 
the  whole  of  the  far-stretching  distance  !  How  the  wind 
rushes  unstemmed  through  the  vast  spaces  !  All  the 
streets  are  broad.  They  are  classed  as  prospekts,  oulitzi, 
and  perouloks  or  cross  streets,  but  even  the  perouloks 
would  be  broad  streets  in  most  of  the  older  European 


CATHEDRAL   OF   ST.    ISAAC. 

towns.  How  mean  and  pitiful  are  the  shops,  with  their 
names  inscribed  in  the  bewildering  Greek  characters 
which  testify  to  the  Greek  origin  of  Russian  litera- 
ture and  religion,  and  with  their  walls  covered  all 
over  with  pictures  of  their  contents,  coats,  gowns, 
boots,  portmanteaux,  etc. — pictures  apparently  far  more 
important  than  the  objects  they  represent.  Then 
comes  a  square  more  hugely  disproportioned  than  the 
streets,  the  palaces  which  surround  it  built  of  bad 
brick  covered  with  worse  stucco,  and,  however  immense, 
seeming  paltry  and  puerile  in  the  vast  space,  girded  on  one 
side  by  the  Isaac  Church,  which,  though  only  a  poor  imi- 


30  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

tation  of  St.  Paul's  in  London,  has  at  least  the  advantage 
in  stateliness  of  proportions,  when  seen  against  a  sunset 
sky. 

The  poet  Miskewickz  says,  "  Human  hands  built  Rome  : 
divine  hands  created  Venice ':  but  he  who  sees  St.  Pe- 
tersburg may  say — *  This  town  is  the  work  of  the  devil.'  " 
Here  in  the  most  eastern  capital  in  the  world,  there  are 
days  without  night,  but  there  are  also  days  almost  with- 
out day,  having  only  five  hours  forty-seven  minutes  of 
light.  A  number  of  marshy  islands,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Neva,1  were  chiefly  inhabited  by  wolves  and  bears 
till  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  though  a  few  fisher- 
men's huts  rose  here  and  there  amid  the  thicket,  on  the 
dryer  parts  of  the  morass.  Ivan  the  Terrible  had  some 
idea  of  founding  a  town  here,  but  it  was  left  for  Peter  the 
Great  to  begin  the  work  in  1703,  founding  St.  Petersburg, 
as  Algarotti  says,  "  for  a  window  by  which  the  Russians 
might  look  out  into  civilized  Europe."  Till  the  time 
of  Peter,  who  is  often  said  to  "  have  knouted  Russia 
into  civilization,"  the  country  had  been  more  Asiatic 
than  European.  It  was  Peter  (the  first  Tsar  of  Russia 
who  had  seen  the  sea)  who  realized  that  the  future  com- 
merce of  the  country  must  depend  on  the  creation  of  a 
naval  force  with  which  to  occupy  the  Baltic.  The  site 
of  the  fortress  which  he  built  with  this  intention  was 
selected  as  near  as  possible  to  the  frontier  of  Sweden, 
because  at  that  time  the  Swedes  were  the  most  formid- 
able enemy  of  Russia.  It  was  also  chosen  with  a  view  of 
withdrawing  the  Russian  nobles  from  their  magnificent 
somnolence  at  Moscow,  and  of  gradually  civilizing  them 
by  rubbing  against  those  of  more  polished  manners  and 
tastes. 

Peter — or  Piter,  as  he  wrote  himself — gave  the  name 
of  his  patron  saint  to  his  new  city,  which  is  therefore 
rightly  called  St.  Petersburg,  not  simply  Petersburg.2 
It  was  the  apple  of  his  eye,  his  "  Paradise,"  as  he  calls  it 
in  one  of  his  letters.  He  regarded  neither  the  danger  of 

i  The  Petersburg  Island  was  formerly  called  Beresovionstrof  :  the  Vassili  Ostrof 
(when  Ingria  was  Swedish)  was  known  as  Givisaari :  the  Apothecary's  Island  was 
Korposaari :  the  Kammeni  Ostrof  was  Kitzisaari.  See  Tooke's  Life  of  Catherine 
II. 

•2  The  common  people,  however,  often  simply  call  the  town  "  Piter,"  after  Peter 
the  Great,  and  the  poet  Koltsov  and  others  write  of  it  thus. 


BUILDING  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG.  31 

floods  by  which  parts  of  the  city  are  still  constantly  inun- 
dated, nor  the  unhealthiness  by  which  the  death-rate  is 
still  much  higher  at  St.  Petersburg  than  in  any  other  city 
of  Europe.  When  Catherine  II.  complained  of  the  ill 
effects  of  the  climate  upon  her  health,  one  of  her  courtiers 
justly  replied — "  It  is  not  the  fault  of  God,  Madam,  if  men 
insist  upon  building  the  capital  of  a  great  empire  upon 
land  destined  by  nature  for  the  abode  of  bears  and  wolves." 
It  was  on  the  most  inland  of  the  islands  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Neva,  called  by  the  Finns  Yanni-Saari,  or  Hare  Island, 
that  Peter  laid  his  foundations.  He  superintended  the 
building  of  one  of  the  bastions  of  his  fortress  himself, 
and  gave  the  othersaifi  charge  to  his  chief  officers.  At 
first  the  fortifications  were  only  built  of  wood,  but  three 
years  afterwards  they  were  re-erected  in  stone  by  masons 
from  Novogorod  who  were  assisted  by  the  soldiers.  The 
first  fortress  was  begun  on  the  i6th  of  May,  1703,  and 
finished  in  five  months.  Wheelbarrows  were  unknown, 
and  the  workmen  scraped  up  the  dirt  with  their  hands, 
and  carried  it  to  the  ramparts  in  their  shirts  or  in  bags 
made  of  matting.  Two  thousand  thieves  and  other  crim- 
inals sentenced  to  Siberia  were  ordered  to  serve  under 
the  Novogorod  workmen.  Within  the  fortress  a  little 
church  was  erected  and  dedicated  to  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul  ;  it  was  covered  with  yellow  stucco  inside  and  bore 
a  chime  of  bells.  The  first  brick  house  was  built  by 
Count  Golovkin  in  1710,  and  the  following  year  Peter 
constructed  a  little  brick  cottage  for  himself,  which  he 
called  his  palace,  just  outside  the  fortress.  In  nine  years 
from  the  foundation  of  the  city,  the  seat  of  government 
was  moved  from  Moscow  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  in  1710 
the  Tsar  enforced  that  all  the  nobility  and  principal  mer- 
chants should  have  houses  there,  while  every  large  vessel 
on  the  Neva  was  forced  to  bring  thirty  stones,  every 
small  one  ten,  and  every  peasant's  cart  three,  toward 
ths  building  of  the  new  city.  Breaking  through  even  the 
tradition  which  required  that  princes  should  be  buried  at 
St.  Michael  of  the  Kremlin  of  Moscow,  Peter  marked 
out  his  own  tomb  and  those  of  his  successors  in  his  new 
cathedral.  "  Before  the  new  capital,"  says  Pouchkine, 
"  Moscow  bent  her  head,  as  an  imperial  widow  bows 
before  a  young  Tsaritsa." 


32  6  TUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

''Saint-Petersbourgavec  sa  magnificence  et  son  immensite  est  tin 
trophee  eleve  par  les  Russes  a  leur  puissance  a  venir.  Depuis  le  tem- 
ple des  Juifs,  jamais  la  foi  d'un  peuple  en  ses  destinees  n'a  rien 
arrache  a  la  terre  de  plus  merveilleux  que  Saint-Petersbourg.  Et  ce 
qui  rend  vraiment  admirable  ce  legs  fait  par  un  homme  a  son  ambitieux 
pays,  c'est  qu  il  a  eteaccepte  par  1  histoire." — M.  de  Custine. 

The  mushroom  growth  of  the  city  caused  the  buildings 
of  Peter  the  Great's  time  to  be  of  the  most  ephemeral 
character,  so  that  scarcely  any  thing  we  now  see  dates 
further  back  than  Catherine  II.,  and,  though  the  size  of 
the  town  has  now  surpassed  the  utmost  hopes  of  its 
founder,  and  has  spread  from  the  island  of  Vassili  Ostrof, 
which  he  destined  as  its  center,  for  many  miles  south  and 
eastwards,  it  is  still  "  only  an  immense  outline  which  it 
will  require  future  empresses  and  almost  future  ages  to 
complete."  l 

At  first  even  the  wild  animals  which  had  previously 
inhabited  the  locality  were  not  all  driven  away,  so  that  in 
1714  two  soldiers  on  guard  in  front  of  the  foundry  were 
devoured  by  wolves,  and,  a  little  time  after,  a  woman  was 
torn  to  pieces  at  midday  in  front  of  Prince  Mentch.ikoff's 
house. 

The  best  hotels  in  St.  Petersburg,  though  sufficiently 
comfortable,  would  be  considered  very  second-rate  in  any 
other  capital,  and  the  food  they  supply  is  very  indiffer- 
ent. The  rooms  are  clean,  and  are  all  fitted  with  double 
windows,  which  are  here  an  absolute  necessity.  They  are 
hermetically  sealed  in  winter,  only  a  single  pane  of  the 
inner  window,  called  a  "  Was  ist  das  ? "  being  made  to 
open.  Yet  the  window-frames  require  constant  renewal, 
and  the  great  cold  (which  shakes  even  the  granite  stones 
of  the  quays  from  their  places)  constantly  shrinks  them, 
and  alters  their  forms. 

We  were  at  the  H6tel  de  France  in  the  Grand  Moskoi, 
a  broad  street  ending,  close  to  the  hotel,  in  a  huge  arch- 
way of  an  aimless  architectural  character  thoroughly 
characteristic  of  St.  Petersburg. 

"  Je  necrois  qu'on  puisse  voir  ailleurs  rien  d'aussi  mauvais  gout  que 
cette  colossale  port-cochere  ouverte  sous  une  maison,  et  toute  flanquee 
d'habitations  dont  le  voisinage  bourgeois  ne  1'empeche  pas  d  etre 
traitee  d  arc  de  triomphe,  grace  aux  preventions  monumentales  des 
architectes  russes." — M.  de  Custine. 

i  Coxe. 


THE   WINTER  PALACE. 


33 


Passing  under  the  archway,  we  emerge  .at  once  into  a 
vast  open  space,  the  center  of  which  is  occupied  by  the 
granite  Alexander  Column,  said  to  be  the  greatest  mono- 
lith of  modern  times,  but  already  scarred  and  cracked  by 
the  frosts.  It  is  the  work  of  a  Frenchman,  M.  de  Mon- 
ferrand,  and  rests  on  a  pedestal  which  is  inscribed  simply 
"  To  Alexander  I.  Grateful  Russia."  The  monolith  is 
eighty  feet  high,  but  the  monument,  including  the  angel 
and  pedestal,  is  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high.  To  the 
left  are  the  Isaac  Cathedral  and  the  graceful  tower  and 


THE   ALEXANDER  COLUMN. 

spire  of  the  Admiralty.  Opposite  us  was  the  huge  Win- 
ter Palace,  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  Vatican  and 
Versailles,  is  the  largest  palace  in  the  world  intended  for 
a  residence,  and,  though  tasteless  and  rococo,  has  a  cer- 
tain grandeur  from  its  immensity. 

"  Quoique  les  plus  grand  monuments  de  cette  ville  se  perdent  dans 
un  espace  qui  est  plutot  une  plaine  qu'une  place,  le  palais  est  impos- 
ant  ;  le  style  de  cette  architecture  du  temps  de  la  regence  a  de  la  no- 
blesse, et  la  couleur  rouge  dagres,  dont  1'edifice  est  bad.  plait  a  1'oeil. 
La  colonne  d'Alexandre,  1'Etat-Major,  1'Arcde  Triomphe  au  fond  de 
son  demi-cercle  d'edifices,  les  chevaux,  les  chars,  I'Amiraute  avec  ses 
elegantes  colonnettes  et  son  aiguille  doree,  Pierre  le  Grand  sur  son 
rocher,  les  ministeres  qui  sont  autant  de  palais,  enfm  1'etonnante  e'glise 
de  Saint-Isaac  en  face  d'un  des  trois  ponts  jetes  sur  la  Neva :  toutcela 


34  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

rjerdu  dans  1'enceinte  d'une  seule  place  n'est  pas  beau,   mais  c'est 
etonnamment  grand. " — M.  de  Custine. 

Like  all  the  Russian  palaces,  the  Winter  Palace  is  a 
mixture  of  splendor  and  shabbiness,  luxury  and  discom- 
fort. In  going  over  it,  visitors  see  every  thing  gor- 
geously adapted  for  state  ceremonials,  but  wonder  how 
and  where  the  imperial  family  can  live.  The  whole  of  the 
spendid  interior  was  consumed  by  fire  in  1837,  but  speed- 
ily restored.  It  is  said  that  not  less  than  six  thousand 
persons  have  frequently  had  a  habitation  in  the  Winter 
Palace.  As  in  the  Vatican  at  Rome,  and  as  in  the  forests 
of  the  great  landowners,  many  colonies  are  formed  for 
years  together  of  which  the  owner  takes  no  notice  ;  so, 
before  the  fire,  there  nestled  many  a  one  in  this  palace 
not  included  amongst  the  regular  inhabitants.  The 
watchers  on  the  roof — placed  there  for  different  purpo- 
ses, among  others  to  keep  the  water  in  the  tanks  from 
freezing  during  the  winter  by  casting  in  red-hot  balls — built 
themselves  huts  between  the  chimneys,  took  their  wives 
and  children  there,  and  even  kept  poultry  and  goats,  who 
fed  on  the  grass  on  the  roof  ;  it  is  said  that  at  last  some 
cows  were  introduced,  but  this  abuse  had  been  corrected 
before  the  fire  occurred.1 

This  palace,  from  whose  gate  Catherine  II.  emerged 
on  horseback,  crowned  with  an  oak  wreath  and  with  a 
drawn  sword  in  her  hand,  to  put  herself  at  the  head  of 
her  army,  is  full  of  associations  with  the  modern  history 
of  the  country. 

"  Quelle  est  la  noble  famille  de  Russie  qui  n'ait  aussi  quelque 
glorieux  souvenir  a  revendiquer  dans  ses  murs?  Nos  peres,  nos 
ancetres,  toutes  nos  illustrations  politiques,  administratives,  guerrieres, 
y  re£urent  des  mains  du  souverain,  et  au  nom  de  la  patrie,  les  temoi- 
gnages  eclatants  dus  a  leurs  travaux,  a  leurs  services,  a  leur  valeur. 
C'est  ici  que  Lomonossoff,  que  Derjavine  firent  resonner  leur  lyre 
nationale,  que  Karamsin  lut  les  pages  de  son  histoire  devant  un 
auditoire  auguste.  Ce  palais  etait  le  palladium  des  souvenirs  de  toutes 
nos  gloires  ;  c'etait  le  Kremlin  de  notre  histoire  moderne." —  Wia- 
semski. 

The  chamber  is  shown,  which  saw  the  last  moments  of 
the  Emperor  Nicholas  I.,  whose  death,  during  the  Crimean 
war,  made  so  great  a  sensation  in  England.  After  receiving 

i  See  Kohl. 


THE  WINTER  PALACE,  35 

the  news  of  the  defeat  of  the  Alma,  his  health  completely 
gave  way.  He  frequently  repeated  "  On  ne  vit  pas  vieux 
dans  ma  famille."  He  received  with  perfect  calm  from 
his  physician  the  news  that  his  case  was  hopeless.  He 
pardoned  his  enemies,  desired  that  the  simple  words 
"  The  Emperor  is  dying  "  should  be  telegraphed  to  the 
chief  towns  of  his  Empire,  blessed  his  children  and  grand- 
children, and  thanked  his  ministers,  his  army,  and 
especially  the  brave  defenders  of  Sebastopol  for  their 
services.  To  the  Grand  Duke,  his  son,  he  said,  "  My 
great  wish  has  been  to  take  upon  myself  all  the  toils  and 
difficulties  of  a  sovereign's  duties,  to  leave  you  a  flourish- 
ing and  well-ordered  empire.  Providence  has  ordained 
otherwise.  Now  I  am  going  to  pray  for  Russia  and  for 
you.  After  Russia,  I  have  loved  you  more  than  any  thing 
on  earth." 

But  these  touching  souvenirs  are  almost  forgotten  in 
those  which  surround  the  tragic  end  (in  another  room  of 
the  palace)  of  his  son  the  Emperor  Alexander  II. 

On  Saturday,  March  13,  1881,  Alexander  communicated 
with  his  family  at  the  nine  o'clock  mass  in  his  private 
chapel.  After  this  he  breakfasted  with  several  intimate 
friends,  received  a  visit  from  his  doctor,  conversed  on 
the  subjects  of  the  day  with  his  morganatic  wife,  and, 
a  little  after  i  P.M.,  drove  to  be  present  at  a  military  review. 
When  this  was  over  he  paid  a  visit  to  his  cousin  the  Grand 
Duchess  Catherine,  and,  at  2  P.M.,  set  out  to  return  to 
the  palace  by  the  quiet  road  which  is  bordered  by  the 
Catherine  canal  on  the  left,  and  on  the  right  by  the  high 
wall  of  the  Summer  Garden.  The  carriage  of  the  Emperor 
was  followed  by  two  sledges,  the  first  containing  Colonel 
Dvorjitsky,  head  of  the  police  ;  the  second  Captain  Kock. 
Almost  immediately,  a  loud  detonation  echoed  through 
the  quay  of  the  canal,  followed  by  thick  clouds  of  snow 
and  debris,  forced  up  by  a  bomb,  thrown  by  a  man  named 
Ryssakoff  under  the  imperial  carriage,  of  which  it  had 
burst  in  the  back  and  smashed  the  windows.  The  coach- 
man tried  to  drive  on  at  once,  but,  seeing  that  two  persons 
— one  belonging  to  the  six  Cossacks  of  his  suite,  and  a  boy 
of  fourteen  who  was  passing  by  with  a  basket  on  his  head 
— were  wounded,  the  Emperor  insisted  on  getting  out  of 
his  carriage  and  going  himself  to  look  after  them.  After- 


36  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

ward  he  turned  to  reproach  the  would-be  assassin,  who  had 
been  captured  by  Captain  Kock.  A  considerable  crowd 
had  already  collected,  and  the  Cossack  who  had  occupied 
the  box  of  the  imperial  carriage,  followed  his  master  and 
implored  him  to  return.  Finding  that  the  Emperor  per- 
sisted in  advancing,  the  faithful  Cossack  urged  Colonel 
Dvorjitsky  to  caution  him,  but  without  avail.  The  Em- 
peror inquired  carefully  into  the  circumstances  of  what 
had  taken  place,  and  then,  with  a  sad  and  preoccupied 
expression,  was  returning  to  his  carriage,  when  a  man  who 
had  stood  by  during  the  conversation,  and  who  had  been 
remarked  for  the  insolence  of  his  manner,  raised  his 
hands  and  threw  a  white  object  at  the  feet  of  his  Majesty. 
It  was  a  second  bomb,  which  exploded  at  once.  A  column 
of  snow  and  dust  rose  in  the  air,  and  as  it  cleared  away, 
amongst  twenty  other  wounded  persons,  the  Emperor  was 
seen  in  a  seated  posture,  his  uniform  torn  away,  and  the 
lower  part  of  his  body  a  mass  of  torn  flesh  and  broken 
bones.  The  Grand-Duke  Michael,  who  had  heard  the 
first  explosion  in  a  neighboring  palace,  arrived  just  at  this 
terrible  moment  and  was  recognized  by  his  brother.  It 
was  proposed  to  carry  the  Emperor  into  the  nearest  house, 
but,  in  broken  accents,  he  cried,  "  Quick,  home,  take  me 
to  the  palace — there — to  die,"  and  thither  he  was  carried, 
marking  his  terrible  course  in  blood  across  the  snow.  An 
hour  later  (3.35  P.M.)  he  expired,  having  received  the  last 
sacraments  and  surrounded  by  his  family.1 

"Telle  fut  la  fin  du  'tsar  liberateur, '  quien  iS6r  avait  affranchi  les 
paysans,  en  1878  affranchi  les  Chretiens  des  Balkans,  qui,  le  jour  meme 
de  1'attentat,  venait  de  donner  a  la  Russie  une  constitution,  mais  qui 
tombait  victime  d'une  politique  d'irresolution  aussi  funeste  a  son  pays 
qu  a  lui-meme."  Rambinid,  "  Hist,  de  la  Russie."'' 

The  balls  and  banquets  at  the  Winter  Palace  are  cele 
brated  for  their  magnificence,  especially  the  fetes  of  the 
ist  of  January,  and  have  always  been  worthy  of  the  ruler 
of  so  vast  an  Empire.  At  the  suppers  for  three  or  four 
hundred  guests  a  unique  decoration  is  often  introduced. 
Immense  orange  trees,  planted  in  tubs  which  are  placed 
upon  the  ground,  are  so  arranged  as  to  come  up  between 

i  Alcxandrc  II :  Details  inedits  sur  sa  Vie  Intime  et  sa  Mort,  par  Victor 
Laferte,  1882. 


THE  NEVA.  37 

the  compartments  of  the  long  tables,  in  which  a  space  is 
cut  out  to  admit  of  the  trunk,  whilst  their  rich  foliage  and 
fruit  overshadow  the  whole.1 

"  Des  que  la  cour  quitte  Petersbourg,  cette  magnifique  residence 
prend  1'aspect  d'une  salle  de  spectacle  apres  la  representation." 

"  Petersbourg  est  mort,  parce  que  1  empereur  est  a  Peterhoff." — 
J/.  de  Custine. 

On  the  further  side  of  the  Winter  Palace  flows  the  huge 
Neva,  moving  slowrly,  thus  near  its  mouth,  between  solid 
granite  quays.  On  the  south  side  it  is  lined  with  palaces, 
chiefly  built  of  brick,  in  walls  five  or  six  feet  thick,  but 
occasionally  of  Finland  granite.  These  quays  are  the 
pleasantest  walk  in  the  town,  and  arm  delightful  in  the 
fresh  clearness  of  the  northern  morning,  though  the  twi- 
light which  fills  three  parts  of  Russian  life  is  also  full  of 
picturesque  accidents.  On  the  river  are  barges  of  hay, 
like  houses  moving  slowly  downward,  and  along  the  bank 
are  other  barges  from  which  the  inhabitants  are  laying  in 
their  stores  of  winter-wood,  cut  into  short  blocks.  Beyond 
the  river  stretch  the  warehouses  of  Vassili  Ostrof  or  Basil 
Island,  the  largest  of  the  islands  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Neva,  and  the  mercantile  quarter  of  the  city.  Many  of 
the  houses  here  are  still  built  of  wood,  which  has  the 
attraction  of  being  the  material  warmest  in  winter  as  well 
as  cheapest.  Few  of  the  houses  are  more  than  two  stories 
high  ;  an  enterprising  speculator  was  completely  ruined 
who  built  houses  of  several  stories  in  Vassili  Ostrof,  as 
no  Russian  could  be  found  who  would  mount  so  high. 

"  The  building  of  a  house  is  a  much  more  costly  undertaking  in  St. 
Petersburg  than  in  any  other  part  of  Russia.  Provisions  are  dear,  and 
the  price  of  labor  always  comparatively  high.  Then  the  ground 
brings  often  enormously  high  prices.  There  are  private  houses,  the 
mere  ground  of  which  is  valued  at  200,000  roubles,  a  sum  for  which, 
in  other  parts  of  the  empire,  a  man  might  buy  an  estate  of  several 
square  leagues,  with  houses,  woods,  rivers,  and  lakes,  and  all  the  eagles, 
bears,  wolves,  oxen,  and  human  creatures,  etc.,  that  inhabit  them.  In 
particularly  favorable  situations  for  business  as  much  as  1,000  roubles 
a  year  has  been  paid  by  way  of  rent  for  every  window  looking  into  the 
street.  The  next  thing  that  renders  building  so  costly  is  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  a  solid  foundation.  The  spongy,  marshy  nature  of  the 
soil  makes  it  necessary  for  the  builder  to  begin  by  constructing  a 
strong  scaffolding  underground  before  he  can  think  of  rearing  one  over 

I  See  Lady  Bloomfield,  Reminiscences  of  Court  and  Diplomatic  Life. 


38  S'J'C'D^LX  AV  X  U  SSI  A. 

it.  Every  building  of  any  size  rests  on  piles,  and  would  vanish  like  a 
stage  ghost  were  it  not  for  the  enormous  beams  that  furnish  its  sup- 
port."— Kohl. 

In  all  parts  of  St.  Petersburg  there  is  the  same  difficulty 
— the  foundation.  Water  percolates  everywhere,  and  a 
foundation  of  piles  is  always  necessary. 

"  How  can  one  live  in  a  town  where  the  streets  are  so  damp  and  the 
hearts  so  dry  ?  " — Count  Sollohub. 

The  Academy  of  Sciences,  the  Academy  of  Arts,  and 
the  School  of  Marine  Cadets  vary  the  line  of  buildings 
along  the  quay  of  Vassili  Ostrof.  The  last  named  was 
the  palace  of  Mentchikoff ;  it  is  the  oldest  large  building 
in  the  city,  and  was  by  far  the  largest  building  of  Peter 
the  Great's  time.  Peter  could  always  see  Mentchikoff's 
lighted  windows  of  an  evening,  and,  when  he  did  not 
himself  visit  him,  comforted  himself  with  the  reflection, 
"  Danilitch  is  making  merry." 

Very  different  is  this  scene  during  the  winter  months, 
when  the  Neva  becomes  the  great  highway  and  is  crowded 
with  all  the  best  and  the  worst  company  in  the  capital. 
The  Nikolskoi  Maros,  or  frost  of  St.  Nicholas,  begins  the 
real  winter.  Then,  when  you  can  not  face  the  outer  air 
without  a  gasp,  areas  are  set  apart  on  the  river  for  skat- 
ing, race-courses  for  sledges,  and  ice-hills  are  formed, 
down  which  timid  persons  are  accompanied  in  their 
sledges  by  a  conductor.  At  the  end  of  the  fast  which 
closes  at  Christmas,  a  market  is  held  on  the  Neva,  and 
the  booths  form  a  street  a  mile  long,  at  which  Russians 
lay  in  their  provisions  for  the  winter.  The  ice  becomes 
immensely  thick,  but  holes  are  made  in  it  for  the  washer- 
women, who  stand  upon  it  for  hours  and  plunge  their 
arms  into  the  freezing  water,  though  the  cold  is  at  between 
twenty  and  thirty  degrees  Reaumur,  which  freezes  hats 
to  heads  and  veils  to  faces.1  These  holes  are  said  often 
to  be  used  for  the  concealment  of  murdered  bodies, 
though  the  peaceful  character  of  the  Russians  is  shown 
in  nothing  more  than  the  rarity  of  the  deeds  of  violence, 
for  which  the  long  darkness  and  twilight  of  winter  afford 
such  enormous  facilities.  The  natives  are  wonderfully 

i  Washing,  however,  is  so  ill  done  in  St.  Petersburg  that  it  is  frequently  sent  to 
London  and  returned  in  a  fortnight. 


BENEDICTION  OF  THE   WA  TERS.  39 

impervious  not  only  to  cold  but  to  transitions,  and  the 
same  drivers  who  will  sleep  upon  their  stoves  at  home  are 
none  the  worse  for  sleeping  for  hours  in  the  open  air 
through  the  cold  winter  nights.  When  any  great  ban- 
quet or  ball  is  given,  huge  fires  are  lighted  in  the 
streets  for  their  benefit,  but  these  are  only  on  grand 
occasions. 

"  Oh,  little  father,  thy  nose,  thy  nose  !  "  a  stranger  will 
sometimes  exclaim,  and  begin  rubbing  the  nose — the 
white  and  chalky  nose — of  a  foot-passenger,  with  a  handful 
of  snow.  If  you  close  your  eyes,  your  eyelids  are  imme- 
diately frozen  down,  but  if  a  man's  eyes  freeze  up,  he  will 
knock  at  the  nearest  door,  and  ask  to  come  in  and  be 
melted  at  the  stove. 

At  twenty  degrees  of  cold,  children  are  seldom  allowed 
to  go  out.  Only  soldiers  and  officers  must  never  shrink 
from  their  duty,  parades  must  never  be  interrupted,  not 
a  sign  of  a  cloak  must  be  seen.  The  Emperor  never 
hesitates  to  expose  himself  to  any  amount  of  snow,  rain, 
or  wind,  and  his  officers  must  do  the  same.  The  most 
pitiable  objects  in  a  Russian  winter  are  the  recruits,  who, 
taken  away  from  their  hot  huts  and  sheepskin  clothing, 
are  hardly  able  to  hold  their  muskets,  while  their  fur- 
clad  countrymen  are  walking  about  at  their  ease. 

It  is  immediately  in  front  of  the  Winter  Palace  that,  on 
the  festival  of  Epiphania  or  Theophania  (January  6),  the 
ceremony  of  the  Benediction  of  the  Waters  takes  place.  A 
wooden  temple  is  erected  on  the  ice,  richly  gilded  and 
painted,  and  hung  round  with  sacred  pictures,  especially 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist.  This  temple  is  called  the  Jor- 
dan, a  name  in  frequent  use  for  any  baptistery  or  font,  or 
any  basin  in  which  holy  water  is  contained.  The  Jordan 
is  surrounded  by  a  hedge  of  fir  boughs,  and  in  the  midst 
of  it  a  hole  is  cut  through  the  ice  to  the  water.  To  this 
a  platform  of  boards,  covered  with  red  cloth,  and  fenced 
in  by  fir-boughs,  is  laid  from  the  shore  for  the  procession 
to  pass  over.  First  a  service  is  held  in  the  imperial 
chapel,  and  then,  between  lines  of  troops  and  standards, 
the  clerks,  deacons,  priests,  archimandrites,  and  bishops, 
in  their  richest  robes,  pass,  carrying  lighted  tapers, 
censers,  the  Gospel,  and  sacred  pictures  and  banners, 
followed  by  the  Emperor,  the  Grand  Dukes,  and  all  the 


40  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

court.     As  it  moves,  the  procession  sings  the  following 
tropariums — 

' '  The  voice  of  the  Lord  cried  aloud  upon  the  waters,  saying  :  Come 
hither,  and  receive  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  the  spirit  of  understanding, 
and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord  of  Christ,  who  is  manifested  unto  us  " 
(Thrice). 

"  This  day  is  the  nature  of  water  sanctified  ;  Jordan  floweth  out 
the  streams  of  his  waters  burst  forth,  when  he  beholds  the  Lord 
baptized  "  (7\vice). 

•'  Thou,  O  Christ,  the  King,  as  a  man  didst  come  to  the  river,  and 
as  a  servant  didst  desire  to  be  baptized  by  the  hand  of  the  fore-runner, 
for  our  sins  ;  O  Thou  who  art  good,  and  the  lover  of  mankind  " 
(Twice). 

The  Benediction  of  the  Waters  then  takes  place  in 
memory  of  the  baptism  of  Christ,  and  by  it  the  Russian 
Church  maintains  that  the  nature  of  all  waters  is  sancti- 
fied, and  such  virtue  given  to  the  water  especially  blessed, 
that  it  will  remain  uncorrupt  for  years,  and  be  as  fresh  as 
water  immediately  taken  from  the  spring  or  river.  The 
soldiers  fire  as  soon  as  the  service  is  finished.  All  are 
sprinkled  with  holy  water  with  a  bunch  of  basilka  or  herb 
Basil,  and  the  procession  returns  to  the  church,  where 
some  of  the  consecrated  water  is  given  to  the  priests  and 
congregation  to  drink,  with  the  words — 

"Let  us  faithfully  celebrate  the  greatness  of  the  Divine  mercy 
toward  us  ;  for  being  made  man  for  our  sins,  He  perfected  our  puri- 
fication in  Jordan  ;  He,  who  alone  is  pure  and  unblemished,  sancti- 
fieth  me  and  the  waters,  and  bruiseth  the  heads  of  the  serpents  in  the 
waters.  Let  us,  therefore,  my  brethren,  drink  of  this  water  with  joy. 
for  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  invisibly  imparted  to  all  who  drink 
thereof  with  faith,  by  Christ  our  God,  the  Saviour  of  our  souls. "  ] 

It  was  at  the  Benediction  of  the  Neva  that  both  Peter 
the  Great  and  his  grandson  Peter  II.  caught  the  colds  of 
which  they  died.  Alexander  I.  had  three  fingers  frost- 
bitten during  the  same  ceremony,  and  they  had  to  be 
rubbed  with  snow  before  he  returned  to  the  palace,  and 
one  of  his  courtiers  died  of  the  cold  on  the  occasion.2 

If  they  can,  numbers  of  people  will  plunge,  from 
religious  motives,  into  the  hole,  made  for  the  Beneclio 

i  See  Rites  and  Ceremonies  of  the  Creek  Church  in  Russia,  by  John  Glen 
King,  D.  D.,  Chaplain  to  the  British  Factory  at  St.  Petersburg,  1772, 
?  See  Joyneville. 


THE  NEVA.  41 

tion,  in  the  ice,  and  quantities  of  babies  are  dipped 
through  it.  If  they  die,  which  of  course  they  generally 
do,  heaven  is  secured  for  them  ;  but,  strange  to  say,  this 
kind  of  infanticide  is  allowed,  though  there  is  no  country 
where  population  is  so  much  needed  as  in  Russia.  On 
the  evening  on  which  the  service  is  performed,  all  devout 
Russians  make  crosses  on  their  window-shutters  and 
doors,  to  prevent  the  evil  spirits  expelled  from  the  water 
from  entering  their  houses. 

St.  Petersburg  is  indebted  for  everything  to  the  Neva — 
food,  clothing,  water,  building-materials.  It  is  the 
greatest  source  of  pride  to  the  inhabitants,  but,  like  the 
Nile,  it  is  the  greatest  source  of  terror  also.  The  length 
of  the  river  within  the  town  is  thirteen  English  miles.  If 
a  westerly  storm,  high  water,  and  the  breaking  up  of  the 
ice  were  ever  to  occur  together,  the  whole  city  must  be 
destroyed.  Water  is  the  enemy  most  to  be  dreaded  in 
St.  Petersburg,  as  fire  is  in  other  cities. 

The  ice  generally  breaks  up  about  April  20.  No  one, 
however,  is  allowed  to  use  the  river  till  the  governor  of 
the  fortress  has  come  to  present  some  of  the  water  to  the 
Emperor  in  a  goblet.  This  the  Emperor  is  expected  to 
drain,  and  to  return  to  the  governor  filled  with  gold 
pieces,  but  latterly  it  has  been  found  that  the  goblet 
increased  annually  in  size,  so  that  the  sum  given  now  is 
fixed  at  two  hundred  ducats.  After  the  presentation  of  the 
water,  the  governor  is  rowed  down  the  river  in  his  state 
barge  to  show  that  the  navigation  is  open  and  safe,  and, 
soon  after,  the  arrival  of  the  first  ship  is  hailed  as  a  sub- 
ject of  great  rejoicing.  At  this  time  St.  Petersburg  is  at 
its  unhealthiest,  and  the  smells  are  terrible  from  the 
masses  of  rubbish  and  offal  which  the  people  have  been 
allowed  unchecked  to  throw  upon  the  canals  all  through 
the  winter. 

Whenever  the  Neva  passes  its  usual  level,  guns  are 
fired.  The  first  attracts  no  attention  :  it  is  "  only  an 
inundation."  At  the  second  gun,  horses  are  moved  from 
the  stables  in  the  lower  town,  and  other  precautions  are 
taken.  Cellars  are  frequently  flooded  in  the  course  of 
the  winter.  The  vaunted  water  of  the  river  is  often  very 
dangerous  to  strangers  and  productive  of  serious  ill- 
nesses, 


42  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

Any  strangers  taking  their  first  walk  in  St.  Petersburg 
will  be  attracted  to  turn  to  the  left,  from  the  Winter 
Palace,  by  the  pretty  and  quaint  spire  of  the  Admiralty. 
This  and  the  spire  of  the  citadel  are  covered  with  the 
gold  of  the  ducats  of  Holland  offered  by  the  Dutch 
republic  to  Peter  the  Great.  In  happier  times,  at  the 
parades  held  in  front  of  the  Admiralty,  the  Emperor  used 
to  command  in  person.  Several  thousand  men  with 
officers  and  generals  in  brilliant  uniforms  always  made  a 
handsome  spectacle.  As  the  Emperor  rode  up  with  his 
staff,  the  soldiers  presented  arms  and  the  spectators 
uncovered.  "  Good  morning,  my  children,"  saluted  the 
Emperor.  "  We  thank  your  Majesty,"  answered  a 
thousand  voices  at  once. 

In  the  center  of  the  garden,  beyond  the  Admiralty, 
stands  the  famous  Statue  of  Peter  the  Great.  It  was 
executed  by  the  Frenchman  Falconet,  and  represents  the 
Emperor  in  the  most  impossible  of  positions,  reining  in 
his  horse  upon  the  very  edge  of  a  precipice,  stretching 
out  his  hand  toward  the  Neva,  and  trampling  on  the 
enormous  serpent  of  Conspiracy,  which  enables  his  horse 
to  stand,  by  holding  on  at  its  tail.  The  pedestal  bears 
the  simple  inscription  "  Petramu  Permovu,  Catherina 
Vtovaya  "  ("  to  Peter  the  First,  Catherine  the  Second  "). 
It  is  said  to  be  the  rock  upon  which  Peter  stood  when  he 
was  watching  a  naval  victory  over  the  Swedes  from  the 
land.  It  was  brought  from  Lachta  in  Finland,  and,  to 
transport  it,  a  morass  had  to  be  drained,  a  forest  cleared, 
and  a  road  of  four  versts  constructed  to  the  shore. 
Originally  it  was  forty-two  feet  long  at  the  base,  and 
thirty-six  at  the  top,  it  was  eleven  feet  broad,  and  seven- 
teen high,  and  weighed  1,500  tons,  but  much  of  the 
jagged  edges  has  been  shorn  away,  and  the  original  effect 
of  the  vast  unwieldy  mass  destroyed.  One  side  of  the 
rock  had  been  damaged  by  lightning,  and,  on  knocking 
off  the  fragment  thus  shattered,  a  collection  of  different 
semi-precious  stones — crystals,  topazes,  amethysts — 
appeared,  a  subject  of  interesting  investigation  to  natur- 
alists, and,  cut  up  and  polished,  they  found  a  rapid  sale 
throughout  the  Empire.  On  the  day  on  which  the  statue 
was  placed  on  its  pedestal,  the  Empress  Catherine 
released  all  debtors  who  had  been  five  years  in  confine- 


CATHEDRAL  OF  ST.  ISAAC.  43 

ment,  and  remitted  all  debts  to  the  Crown  of  less  than 
500  roubles. 

Upon  the  garden  which  contains  this  statue,  the 
Cathedral  of  St.  Isaac  looks  down,  which,  in  spite  of  many 
defects,  is  the  queen  of  St.  Petersburg  churches.  It  is 
founded  upon  piles,  and  their  never  having  been  properly 
secured  has  necessitated  constant  repairs  and  rebuilding. 
The  original  foundation  cost  nearly  a  million  of  roubles, 
for  which  the  church  might  have  been  built  in  some 
countries.  The  first  edifice  was  of  wood,  and  it  was  rebuilt 
in  stone.  Then  it  was  nobly  begun  again  in  marble  by 
Catherine  II.1  and  unworthily  finished  in  brick  by  Paul  I., 
whence  the  epigram,  for  which  the  author  paid  in  Siberia, 
"  This  church  is  the  symbol  of  three  reigns,  granite, 
pride,  and  destruction."  The  present  church  was  begun 
afresh  in  1819  and  finished  in  1858,  but  it  already  shows 
signs  of  perishing  from  the  sinking  of  its  foundations. 
It  is  dedicated  to  St.  Isaac  of  Dalmatia,  on  whose  festival 
(May  30,  1672)  Peter  the  Great  was  born.  Its  pillars  are 
glorious  granite  monoliths  from  Finland,  buried  therefor 
centuries  amidst  the  swamps,  and  the  proportions  of  the 
interior  are  very  noble  and  striking.  The  porch  is  full  of 
male  beggars,  who  prostrate  themselves  before  all  who 
pass  by,  and  are  considered,  as  all  beggars  in  Russia,  to 
be  rather  holy  persons.  Inside  are  the  far  holier  female 
beggars,  curvetting,  smirking,  and  prostrating,  two  rows 
of  the  strangest  figures,  like  witches,  in  high  peaked 
hoods.  These  are  nuns,  who  are  sent  out  to  beg  for  a 
certain  number  of  years,  a  certain  sum  being  fixed,  which 
they  are  expected  to  acquire  for  the  sisterhood,  and 
which,  once  obtained,  secures  their  being  provided  for  in 
their  old  age.  The  vast  number  of  these  begging  nuns 
in  Russia  is  a  result  of  the  confiscation  of  monastic 
property  under  Catherine  II.,  which  was  received  with- 
out a  murmur  by  the  people,  a  sign  that  monasticism 
excited  little  love  or  respect. 

No  seats  are  permitted  in  the  Russian  churches,  except 
occasionally  for  the  Emperor  and  Empress,  and,  in  old 
churches,  especially  in  monastic  churches,  for  the  abbot 
or  bishop.  The  congregation  always  stand,  except  on 

i  The  medal  struck  by  Catherine  II.  on  the  occasion  of  her  laying  the  founda- 
tion-stone bears  on  the  reverse,  "  Render  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's,  and 
unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's." 


44 


STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 


Wednesdays  and  Fridays  in  Lent,  when  they  kneel  at  a 
particular  part  of  the  Liturgy  and  Communion,  and  on  a 
few  other  occasions.  This  is  perhaps  one  reason  for  the 
great  predominance  of  men  in  the  congregations  ;  but 
indeed,  with  the  perpetual  bowing  and  prostrating,  seats 
would  be  a  great  inconvenience.  Every  one  prostrates, 


THE    ADMIRALTY   TOWER. 


not  at  any  particular  point  in  the  service,  but  when  he 
feels  so  disposed,  and  when  you  see  any  one  look  out  for 
a  good  open  space,  you  may  be  sure  that  in  another 
moment  he  will  fall  flat  on  the  pavement.  The  dirty 
habits  of  the  Russians  make  their  church-services  a  ter- 
rible penance  to  strangers,  and  it  is  desirable  to  give  a 


CATHEDRAL  OF  ST.  ISAAC.  45 

wide  berth  to  the  peasants,  especially  to  the  men  in 
sheepskins,  which  are  always  swarming  with  vermin. 
Almost  all  the  men  wear  beards,  wrell  cared  for  by  the 
young,  but  neglected  by  the  old. 

"  Nothing  but  brown-haired  peasants'  heads.  To  and  fro  they 
came,  with  an  undulating  movement,  prostrated  themselves,  and  then 
arose,  just  as  the  ripe  ears  of  corn  bow  when  the  summer  breeze  stirs 
them  like  the  waves." — Ivan  Tourgue'neff,  "  Sewlia." 

All  Russian  churches  stand  due  east  and  west  with  the 
altar  at  the  east,  from  the  original  tendency  to  turn  to- 
ward the  rising  sun,  because  the  essence  of  God  is  light. 
The  church  is  entered  on  the  west  by  the  narthex  or 
porch.  This  leads  into  the  trapezay  or  outer  church, 
whence  we  enter  the  vaoq  or  church  itself.  Here,  on 
the  top  of  the  steps  leading  to  the  altar,  stands  the  am- 
bon  (from  a^aivu  to  ascend),  where  the  officiating  min- 
ister stands  at  particular  parts  of  the  service.  Behind 
this  is  the  iconastos,  or  screen,  in  which  are  three  doors, 
the  central  being  called  the  holy,  royal,  or  beautiful  door. 
Within  the  screen  is  the  Holy  Table?  with  four  small 
columns  supporting  a  canopy,  from  which  a. pcristtrion, 
or  dove,  is  suspended  as  a  symbol  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  on  which  the  cross  is  always  laid,  with  the  Gospel, 
and  the  pyxis  or  box  in  which  part  of  the  consecrated 
elements  is  preserved  for  visiting  the  sick.  Behind  the 
Holy  Table  is  the  High  Place  or  holy  throne,  in  which 
the  Bishop  alone  has  a  right  to  sit.  On  the  left  is  the 
prothesis  or  table  of  proposition,  on  which  the  elements 
are  placed  and  prepared  before  the  consecration.  On 
the  right,  in  older  churches,  is  the  sacristy,  where  the  holy 
utensils  and  vestments  of  the  priests  were  kept.  The 
analogion  is  a  portable  folding  desk,  upon  which  the  book 
of  the  reader  is  placed.  In  some  modern  churches  the 
prothesis  and  vestry  are  changed  into  altars,  but  this  is 
an  innovation  :  the  ancient  orthodox  Greek  Church  only 
knew  one  altar  in  a  church.  The  reading  from  three 
different  desks  is  intended  to  typify  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  throughout  the  world.2 

1  The  word  altar  has  crept  into  the  Russian  rubric,   but  is  there  constantly 
used  to  signify  all  the  space  between  the  iconastos  where  the  Holy  Table  stands, 
never  the  Holy  Table  itself. 

2  See  King. 


46  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

The  most  striking  feature  in  St.  Isaac's,  as  in  every 
Russian  church,  is  the  golden  screen  or  iconastos,  shut- 
ting off  the  inner  sanctuary,  where  the  Greek  priest  is  far 
more  entirely  withdrawn  from  the  congregation  than  the 
Latin  priest  standing  before  the  altar.  Here  the  screen 
is  decorated  by  huge  columns  of  malachite,  which  are 
greatly  admired  by  the  Russians,  though  they  have  the 
effect  of  green  paint,  but  some  lapis  lazuli  columns  at 
the  portal  are  very  beautiful. 

The  Virgin  Mary,  the  Apostles,  and  the  vast  number 
of  saints  with  which  its  calendar  abounds,  obtain  only  a 
secondary  devotion  in  the  Greek  Church,  which  denies 
that  it  adores  them  as  gods,  maintaining  that  it  only 
shows  them  the  respect  due  to  those  cleansed  from  orig- 
inal sin  and  admitted  to  converse  with  the  Deity,  and 
that  it  considers  it  more  modest  and  available  to  apply  to 
them  to  intercede  with  God  than  to  address  themselves 
directly  to  the  Almighty.1  Part  of  the  o&th  taken  by 
Russian  bishops  at  their  consecration  includes,  amongst 
the  provisions  introduced  by  Peter  the  Great,  a  promise 
to  "  provide  that  honor  be  paid  to  God  only,  not  to  the 
holy  pictures,  and  that  no  false  miracles  be  ascribed  to 
them."  But  though  these  are  the  authorized  tenets  of 
the  Church,  no  one  who  has  been  much  in  Russia  will 
believe  that  a  less  blind  devotion  is  shown  either  to  the 
saints  or  pictures  there  than  in  Roman  Catholic  coun- 
tries. 

Upon  the  iconastos  of  a  Russian  church  always  hang 
the  sacred  icons  or  pictures,  in  a  regular  order.  In  the 
place  of  honor,  on  the  south  side  of  the  door,  is  the 
figure  of  the  Redeemer.  On  the  north  side  is  the  Ma- 
donna, whom  the  Greek  Church  holds  in  intense  venera- 
tion, without  allotting  her  any  precise  part  in  the  scheme 
of  salvation  or  protectio  i  of  the  Church,  or  precisely 
allowing  the  reverence  for  her  sanctity  to  "  crystallize  into 
the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception."  2  Her  death, 
which  is  also  often  represented,  is  always  "  the  sleep," 
not  "the  assumption,"  of  the  Virgin.  Next  to  the 
Saviour  is  always  placed  the  Saint  to  whom  the  church  is 
dedicated  ;  the  position  of  the  other  pictures  may  be 

1  See  King. 

2  See  Stanley's  Eastern  Church. 


R  USSfA .V  SEX  VICES.  4 7 

changed.  The  pictures  are  covered  with  gilt  metal, 
which  is  often  incrusted  with  jewels,  except  the  face  and 
hands,  which  are  left  exposed.  The  Russian  Church, 
therefore,  whilst  tenaciously  insisting  on  the  observance 
of  the  commandment,  u  Thou  shalt  not  make  to  thyself 
any  graven  image,"  neglects  the  second  part  of  the  pre- 
cept, "  or  the  likeness  of  any  thing  in  heaven  or  earth." 

"  The  Greek  Church  admits  the  use  of  pictures  to  instruct  the 
ignorant,  and  to  assist  the  devotion  of  others  by  those  sensible  repre- 
sentations ;  nor  do  they  herein  think  themselves  guilty  of  any  breach 
of  the  second  commandment,  as  to  the  manner  of  worship  ;  not  only 
because  they  say  these  pictures  are  used  merely  as  remembrances  of 
the  saints,  to  whom  their  respect  is  directed,  but  because  the  design  of 
Moses,  according  to  them,  in  prohibiting  the  making  and  worshiping 
graven  images,  was  merely  to  prohibit  worshiping  the  idols  of  the 
Gentiles,  which  the  Gentiles  believed  to  be  gods,  whereas  they  admit 
no  graven  images,  but  pictures  only,  upon  which  the  name  of  the  saint 
represented  must  always  be  inscribed." — King. 

"All  their  churches  are  full  of  images,  unto  which  the  people,  when 
they  assemble,  doe  bowe  and  knocke  their  heads,  so  that  some  will 
have  knobbes  upon  their  foreheads  with  knocking  as  great  as  egges." 
— Letters  of  Master  Anthonie  Jenkinson,  1557. 

To  outsiders,  the  greater  part  of  the  Russian  services 
are  monotonous,  two  choirs  alternatively  taking  up  a 
sweet  and  plaintive  chant,  in  which  the  words  "  Gospodi, 
Gospodi  pamilui  "  ("  Lord,  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us  !  ") 
soon  become  familiar  ;  indeed,  their  repetition  is  so  con- 
stant that  many  travelers  have  declared  that  no  other 
prayers  are  used  in  the  Russian  Church. 

"  All  their  servi  e  is  in  the  Russe  tongue,  and  the  priestes  and  the 
common  people  have  no  other  praiers  but  this  :  Gkospodi  Jesus 
Christos  esine  voze  pomdoi  nashe.  That  is  to  say,  O  Lorde  Jesus 
Christ,  sonne  of  God,  have  mercy  upon  us  ;  and  this  is  their  prayer, 
so  that  the  most  part  of  the  unlearned  know  neither  Paternoster,  nor 
the  Beleefe,  nor  Ten  Commandments,  nor  scarcely  understand  the 
one  halfe  of  their  service  which  is  read  in  their  churches." — Letters  of 
Master  A  nthonie  Jenkinson,  1557. 

"  There  is  no  degree,  no  variety  in  the  melody  of  the  Russian 
Church  ;  all  is  a  sweet,  harmonious  murmur.  A  '  Creation,'  '  Last 
Judgment,'  a  '  Requiem,'  could  never  find  birth  in  Russian  church 
music.  It  is  like  the  monotonous  whisper  of  the  brook  set  to  music. 
The  chief  part  turns  on  the  words  *  Gospodi  pomilui  '  (Lord,  have 
mercy),  '  Gospodi pomolirn sa  '  (Lord,  we  pray  Thee),  '  Padai  Gospodi  ' 
(Grant  this,  O  Lord).  With  these  words  the  singers  continually  inter- 
rupt the  prayers  of  the  priest.  The  different  modulations  of  the 
melodies  on  these  few  words  form  the  chief  study  of  the  Russian  Chor- 


4§  5  TUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

isters  ;  during  a  many  hours'  service  they  are  only  occasionally  varied 
by  a  psalm  or  two,  and  a  prayer  for  the  emperor." — Kohl 

The  service-books  are  all  in  the  Slavonian  tongue, 
which,  though  the  ancient  language  of  the  country,  dif- 
fers so  greatly  from  that  in  present  use  as  to  be  an  un- 
known tongue  to  the  greater  part  of  the  congregation.1 
However,  the  congregation  is  not  supposed  to  make  any 
responses  in  the  service,  which  is  performed  by  the  priest, 
a  deacon,  a  reader,  and  the  singers  divided  into  two 
choirs.  While  the  priest  stands  with  his  face  to  the  east 
and  repeats  the  prayers,  the  choir  is  almost  constantly 
singing  hymns,  and  the  priest,  for  the  most  part,  reads  in 
so  low  a  voice  that  the  people  are  not  even  supposed  to 
pray  themselves  or  to  hear  the  prayers  he  offers  on  their 
behalf.  This  practice  seems  to  have  arisen  from  an  idea, 
shown  in  the  ancient  appellation  of  mediators  as  applied 
to  the  priests,  in  the  sense  in  which  some  think  St.  Paul 
(Gal.  iii.  19)  spoke  of  Moses  as  a  mediator,  because  he 
was  the  internimcius  to  relate  the  mind  of  God  to  the 
people  and  the  requests  of  the  people  to  God.  Therefore 
the  Russian  congregations  only  join  in  the  service  by 
crossing  themselves  and  bowing  when  "  Lord,  have  mercy 
upon  us  "  is  repeated,  and  at  the  beginning  and  end  of 
each  prayer.  They  cross  themselves  by  touching  the 
forehead  first,  then  on  the  breast,  then  the  right  shoulder, 
and  then  the  left,  thereby  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  : 
and  with  the  thumb,  the  first,  and  middle  fingers  bent  to- 
gether, the  three  fingers  signifying  the  Trinity.  These 
are  called  the  inclinations  or  reverences,  but  the  greater 
inclinations  are  made  by  prostrating  themselves  till  their 
foreheads  touch  the  ground.2 

The  grand  moment  of  the  service  is  when  the  holy  or 
royal  doors  are  opened,  or  the  veil  withdrawn  and  the 
splendors  of  the  inner  sanctuary  revealed,  often  with  life- 
size  figures  of  the  Apostles  round  the  golden  walls,  in 
the  case  of  the  Isaac  Church,  with  the  figure  of  the  Re- 
deemer on  the  stained  glass,  which  forms  the  principal 
light  of  the  dark  church. 

t  A  list  and  explanation  of  the  immense  numbers  of  different  service-books  used 
in  the  Greek  Church  is  given  in  the  dissertation,  "  De  Libris  et  Officiis  Ecclesias- 
ticis  Graecorum,"  in  Cave's  Historia  Literaria,  1743. 

2  See  King. 


ItUSSJAtf  SERVICED.  49 

"  Quand  le  pretre  sort  du  sanctuaire,  ou  il  reste  renferme  pendant 
qu'il  communie.  on  dirait  qu  on  voit  s'ouvrir  les  portes  du  jour  ;  le 
nuage  d'encens  qui  1'environne,  1  argent,  1  or  et  les  pierreries  qui  brillent 
sur  ses  vetemens  et  dans  1'eglise,  semblent  venir  du  pays  ou  1  on 
adorait  le  soleil.' — Madame  d<:  Stael. 

"  The  Nicene  and  Athanasian  creeds,  which  are  received  in  almost 
all  other  Christian  Churches,  are  the  symbols  of  faith  in  this.  The 
Greek  Church  holds  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  but  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  proceeds  from  the  Father  only,  and  not  from  the  Father  and  the 
Son  ;  accordingly,  the  eighth  article  of  the  Nicene  Creed  in  their 
reading  runs  thus  :  '  And  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Lord  and  Giver  of 
life,  who  proceedeth  from  the  Father,  and  with  the  Father  and  the 
Son  together,  is  worshiped,' etc. ,  as  it  was  at  first  drawn  up  at  the 
Council,  the  term  Filioque  being  afterward  added  by  the  Latin  Church, 
and,  of  course,  the  corresponding  article  in  the  Athanasian  Creed  to 
the  same  effect." — King. 

"  If  an  Anglican  could  be  taken  into  a  Greek  or  Russian  church 
just  at  such  parts  of  the  service  as  the  following  :  f  r  the  reading  of 
the  Gospel,  and  often  also  of  the  Epistle,  for  the  singing  of  the  Great 
Doxology  at  Matins,  or  of  the  4^wf  i/.apov,'  on  any  great  festival  at 
Vespers,  or  during  any  of  the  singings  of  the  Vespers  or  Matins  or  at 
almost  any  p  irt  of  the  celebration  of  the  Liturgy,  the  impression  pro- 
duced would  certainly  be  one  of  reverence  and  respect.  On  the 
contrary,  if  he  chanced  to  be  present  at  the  reading  of  the  lesser  ser- 
vices, as  the  Hours,  or  Compline,  or  a  HapdnAr/ois,  at  the  reading  of 
the  Cathisms  of  the  Psalter  (that  is,  of  the  divisions  of  the  Psalter,  as 
appointed  to  be  read  in  course),  he  would  be  utterly  annoyed  and 
shocked.  He  would  say,  '  If  ever  God  was  mocked  with  a  lip-service, 
He  is  so  assuredly  now,  and  in  the  Greek  Church.  Neither  Jewish 
Rabbis  nor  Buddhist  priests  of  the  heathen  can  gabble  over  their 
unspiritual  caricature  worship  in  a  more  profane  way.'  No  words  can 
be  found  too  strong,  none  indeed  strong  enough,  to  express  what  he 
would  feel ;  and  the  more  serious  and  religious  the  observer,  the  deeper 
would  be  his  pain  and  wonder.  As  regards  some  other  things,  such 
as  the  reading  of  the  'E£di/'«/l//of  at  Matins,  or  of  the  introductory  Psalm 
at  Vespers,  the  bidding  of  the  'E/crevric,  and  the  responding  to  these, 
at  the  performance  of  any  occasional  offices,  as  a  baptism,  a  wedding 
or  a  funeral,  the  impression  produced  would  vary  much,  according  to 
the  manner  and  spirit  of  the  priest  officiating.  Sometimes  the  stranger 
would  hear  only  a  slovenly  and  profane  gabbling,  as  in  the  preceding 
cases  ;  sometimes  the  performance  would  not  seem  altogether  irre- 
ligious. The  saying  of  the  introductory  or  concluding  prayers  in 
every  office  would  almost  always  strike  him  in  its  worst  light." — W. 
Palmer,  ''  Dissertations  on  the  Orthodox  Communion." 

All  bishops  officiate  in  a  saccos,  which  retains  the  hum- 
ble name  of  a  sack  in  memory  of  the  garment  worn  by  the 
Saviour,  but  is  made  of  the  most  magnificent  materials. 
Over  this  is  worn  the  omophorioti,  now  of  silk,  but  formerly 
of  sheep's  wool,  typical  of  the  lost  sheep  which  Christ, 


5  o  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

the  good  Shepherd,  bore  on  his  shoulders.  He  gives  the 
benediction  holding  two  candlesticks — one  with  three 
branches,  typical  of  the  Trinity  ;  the  other  with  two,  typi- 
cal of  the  two  natures  of  Christ.1  In  each  the  flame  is 
united. 

Two  hundred  steps  lead  from  a  door  in  the  side  of  the 
portico  to  the  roof  of  St.  Isaac's  Church,  whence  there  is 
a  lovely  view  of  the  pink-gray  city  with  its  domes  and 
minarets.  The  pillars  of  the  cupola  are  all  of  native 
granite.  A  passage  inside  these  and  a  narrower  staircase 
lead  to  the  summit.  Nowhere  are  the  ramifications  of 
the  city  better  seen  than  from  this  point.  We  can  see  the 
forty  islands  in  the  delta  of  the  Neva,  many  still  swampy 
and  uninhabited,  and  scarcely  known  even  by  name  in 
St.  Petersburg.  To  the  North  stretches  the  most  import- 
ant part  of  the  town — the  Bolshaia  Storona,  or  "  Great 
Side  " — a  thickly  built  mass  of  houses,  divided  in  semi- 
circular form  by  the  Moika,  Catherine,  and  Fontanka 
canals.  These  divisions,  known  as  the  first,  second  and 
third  Admiralty  sections,  are  again  subdivided  by  three 
principal  streets — the  Nevskoi  Prospekt,  the  Gorokhovaia 
Oulitza  (Peas  street),  and  the  Vos-nosenskoi  Prospekt 
(Resurrection  Perspective).  The  direction  of  these  streets 
and  canals  determines  that  of  the  other  principal  streets 
— the  Great  and  Little  Morskaia,  the  Great  and  Little 
Millionava,  the  Meshtshanskaia,  and  the  Sadovaia  or 
Garden  street.  To  the  west,  beyond  the  broad  Neva,  is 
Vassili  Ostrof  or  Basil  Island,  the  commercial  town  of 
Peter  the  Great,  containing  the  Exchange,  the  Academy 
of  Sciences,  and  the  University.  To  the  north  is  the 
Petersburgskaia  Storona  or  Petersburg  Side,  the  oldest 
part  of  the  town,  containing  the  Citadel,  which  commands 
only  the  town  itself,  and  would  be  useless  as  a  means  of 
defense  from  a  foreign  enemy  ;  and  to  the  east  is  the 
Viborg  Side,  full  of  barracks  and  factories.  Scattered 
over  the  town  we  see  the  slashes  or  watch-towers  for  the 
police,  whence  they  give  notice  of  danger  from  its  two 
enemies — fire  and  water — announcing  water  by  red  flags 
and  fire,  in  the  daytime,  by  balls  of  black  leather,  and  at 
night  by  red  lights. 

i  See  King. 


THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS.  51 

"  The  streets  in  St.  Petersburg  are  so  broad,  the  open  spaces  so 
vast,  the  arms  of  the  river  so  mighty,  that,  as  large  as  the  houses  are 
in  themselves,  they  are  made  to  appear  small  by  the  gigantic  plan  of 
the  whole.  This  effect  is  increased  by  the  extreme  flatness  of  the  site 
on  which  the  city  stands.  No  building  is  raised  above  the  other. 
Masses  of  architecture,  worthy  of  mountains  for  their  pedestals,  are 
ranged  side  by  side  in  endless  lines.  Nowhere  gratified,  either  by 
elevation  or  grouping,  the  eye  wanders  over  a  monotonous  sea  of 
undulating  palaces." — Kohl 

"  Aussi,  quelque  choque  qu'on  soit  des  sottes  imitations  qui  gatent 
1'aspect  de  Petersbourg,  ne  peut-on  contempler  sans  une  sorte  d'admi- 
ration  cette  ville  sortie  de  la  mer  a  la  voix  d  un  homme,  et  qui,  pour 
subsister,  se  defend  centre  une  inondation  periodique  de  glace  et  per- 
manente  d'eau  ;  c'est  le  resultat  d'une  force  de  volonte  immense.  Si 
i'on  n'admire  pas,  on  craint ;  c'est  presque  respecter." — M.  de  Ciistine. 

The  great  bell  of  St.  Isaac's  is  the  finest  in  this  city  of 
fine  bells.  It  weighs  53,072  Ibs.,  and  is  ornamented  with 
a  relief  of  St.  Isaac  of  Dalmatia,  and  of  its  five  imperial 
founders  (for  it  was  begun  five  times) — Peter  I.,  Cath- 
erine II.,  Paul  I.,  Alexander  I.,  and  Nicholas  I. 

The  center  of  the  great  square  on  the  west  of  St.  Isaac's 
is  occupied  by  a  magnificent  equestrian  Statue  of  the 
Emperor  Nicholas  Paulcnntch,  who  was  the  most  remark- 
able sovereign  of  his  generation.  Severely  brought  up 
by  his  mother,  the  Empress  Marie,  he  was  only  five  years 
old  when  his  brother  Alexander  I.  succeeded  to  the 
Russian  throne.  During  his  brother's  life  he  remained 
entirely  in  the  background,  engrossed  in  the  military  duties 
which  were  the  joy  of  his  heart,  and  never  taking  any 
part  in  the  government  or  being  associated  in  any  council. 
He  had  attained  his  thirtieth  year  when  Alexander  died 
at  Taganrog  in  December,  1825.  His  brother  Constan- 
tine,  sixteen  years  older  than  himself,  vicious,  cruel,  and 
the  scourge  of  all  around  him,  was  universally  detested, 
and  the  worst  consequences  were  anticipated.  But,  to 
the  relief  of  all,  when  the  council  assembled  after  Alex- 
ander's death,  a  sealed  packet  was  opened,  dated  January, 
1822,  by  which  Constantine,  who  knew  his  unpopularity, 
abdicated  all  his  claims.  Still  Nicholas  refused  to  accept 
the  throne  until  he  received,  from  his  brother  himself,  a 
confirmation  of  his  abdication.  His  first  act  was  a  most 
spirited  suppression  of  insurrection  in  the  capital,  and  the 
same  courage  displayed  itself  during  the  cholera  in  Mos- 
gow  (1830),  when  the  poor  rose  against  the  rich  under 


5  2  STUDIES  JN  K  USSIA. 

the  impression  that  their  food  had  been  poisoned,  and 
when,  with  the  natural  eloquence  with  which  he  was 
gifted,  Nicholas  persuaded  them  to  lay  aside  their 
weapons,  and,  instead,  to  implore  upon  their  knees  the 
mercy  of  God. 

Conservative  in  all  his  views,  while  Nicholas  had  it  at 
heart  to  improve  the  commerce  of  his  country,  he  thought 
that  he  could  bring  it  about  without  external  influence. 
He  discouraged  all  his  subjects  from  traveling,  and  would 
express  his  regret  that  a  barrier,  like  the  great  wall  of 
China,  did  not  separate  Russia  from  the  rest  of  Europe. 
In  1848  his  setting  himself  forth  as  the  champion  of  the 
Christians  in  Turkey  and  his  demand  from  the  Sultan  of 
the  protectorate  of  all  populations  professing  the  Greek 
religion  was  regarded  as  trying  to  enforce  that  they  should 
all  henceforth  become  subjects  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia. 
The  Crimean  war  was  the  result.  On  July  3,  1853,  the 
Russian  army  entered  Moldavia.  War  was  begun  in 
October,  and  the  fleets  of  France  and  England  occupied 
the  Black  Sea.  From  this  time  Nicholas  never  had  a 
day's  satisfaction  or  even  hope  ;  his  army  was  not  ready, 
he  had  foreseen  nothing,  defeat  followed  defeat,  and  he 
died  broken-hearted,  on  March  2,  1855. 

Personally,  Nicholas  was  as  winning  in  manner  as  he 
was  noble  and  commanding  in  presence.  He  reigned  as 
much  over  hearts  as  over  actions. 

"  Un  tel  homme  ne  pent  etre  juge  d'apres  la  mesure  qu'on  applique 
auxhommes  ordinaires.  Sa  voix  grave  et  pleine  dautorite  ;  son  regard 
magnetique  et  fortement  appuye  sur  1'objet  qui  1  attire,  mais  rendu 
souvent  froid  et  fixe  par  1'habitude  de  re'primer  ses  passions  plus  encore 
que  de  dissiper  ses  pensees,  car  il  est  franc  ;  son  front  superbe,  ses 
traits  qui  tiennent  de  1'Apollon  et  du  Jupiter,  sa  physionomie  peu 
mobile,  imposante,  imperieuse.  sa  figure  plus  noble  que  douce,  plus 
monumentale  qu'humaine,  exerce  sur  quiconque  approche  de  sa  per- 
sonne  un  pouvoir  souverain.  II  devient  1'arbitre  des  volontes  d'autrui, 
parce  qu'on  voit  qu'il  est  maitre  de  sa  propre  volonte." — M.  de  Custine. 

The  second  walk  which  strangers  will  take  in  St.  ^Peters- 
burg  will  undoubtedly  be  along  the  Nevskoi  frospekt^ 
where  the  street  life  of  the  city  will  be  better  seen  than 
anywhere  else,  and  which  extends  for  a  distance  of  four 
versts,  almost  in  a  straight  line,  through  all  the  rings  of 
the  town — the  aristocratic  quarters,  the  commercial,  an4 


THE  NE  VSKOI  PROSPEK  T.  53 

finally  the  suburbs  of  the  poor.  In  happier  times  the 
sovereigns  used  to  walk  up  and  down  here,  and  mingle 
with  the  crowd,  or  would  drive  up  and  down  in  the  sim- 
plest of  sledges  or  droskies  drawn  by  one  horse  ;  but,  in 
these  days  of  Nihilism  and  conspiracy,  the  rude  "  Ukho- 
ditzay "  ("  Be  off  with  you  ")  of  the  Russian  police  is 
heard  oftener  here  than  anywhere  else. 

"  Gogol  warned  the  Russians  years  ago  not  to  trust  the  Nevskoi 
Prospekt ;  'all  there,'  wrote  the  satirist,  '  is  deceit,  artifice,  schein.' 
Nihilism  and  the  Nevskoi  are  so  associated  with  each  other  that  there 
is  scarcely  a  trottoir  or  a  building,  scarcely  a  corner  or  side-street  of 
this  thoroughfare  which  has  not  made  its  separate  contribution  to  the 
history  of  Russian  conspiracy." — "  Morning  Post,"  Feb.  5,  1884. 

"  The  superintendence  of  the  street-population  of  St.  Petersburg  is 
entrusted  to  a  class  of  men  called  butshniks.  a  name  for  which  they 
are  indebted  to  the  butki,  or  boxes,  in  which  they  are  stationed  day 
and  night.  These  little  wooden  boxes  are  to  be  seen  at  every  corner, 
and  to  each  box  three  butshniks  are  assigned,  who  have  their  beds 
there,  their  kitchen,  and  a  complete  domestic  establishment.  One  of 
them,  wrapped  up  in  a  gray  cloak  faced  with  red,  and  armed  with  a 
halbert,  stands  sentinel  outside,  while  another  attends  to  the  culinary 
department,  and  a  third  holds  himself  ready  to  carry  orders,  or  to  con- 
vey to  the  sidsh,  or  police-office,  the  unfortunates  whom  his  comrade 
may  have  thought  it  his  duty  to  arrest.  Each  butshnik  has  a  small 
whistle,  by  means  of  which  he  conveys  a  signal  to  the  next  post,  if  a 
fugitive  is  to  be  given  chase  to.  The  quartalniks  are  a  superior  kind 
of  police-officers,  and  these  and  the  police-masters  are  constantly  going 
their  rounds,  to  see  that  the  butshniks  are  not  neglectful  of  their  duty. 
By  these  means  excellent  order  is  always  maintained,  and  in  no  other 
capital  of  Europe  are  riotous  or  offensive  scenes  of  less  frequent  occur- 
rence. " — Kohl. 

No  religion  is  more  tolerant  than  the  Greek.  A  few 
years  ago  St.  Petersburg  contained  191  Russian  churches, 
chapels,  and  convents,  six  Catholic  churches,  ten  Protest- 
ant churches,  two  Armenian  churches,  one  synagogue, 
and  one  mosque,  and  most  of  these  have  since  become 
more  numerous. 

"  In  the  Nevskoi  Prospekt  there  are  Armenian,  Greek,  Protestant, 
Roman  Catholic,  United  and  Disunited,  Sunnite  and  Schi'ite  place-;  of 
prayer  in  most  familiar  neighborhood  ;  and  the  street  has,  therefore, 
not  inaptly  received  the  sobriquet  of  Toleration  Street." — Kohl. 

As  we  walk  along  we  are  struck  by  the  number  of  men 
and  boys  amongst  the  pedestrians  ;  girls  are  seldom  seen 
in  the  streets  in  Russia,  women  never,  unless  they  have 


5  4  STUDIE  S  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

something  to  do.  In  the  end  of  the  street  nearest  to  the 
Admiralty,  smart  sledges  may  be  met  at  every  step  dur- 
ing the  season,  but  there  are  few  aristocratic  equipages 
in  the  summer,  when  all  the  nobility  are  away  in  the 
country. 

"  The  huge  placards  and  colossal  letters,  by  which  the  tradesmen  of 
London  and  Paris  seek  to  attract  public  attention,  are  unknown  in  St. 
Petersburg.  The  reading  public  there  is  very  limited,  and  the  mer- 
chant who  wishes  to  recommend  himself  to  the  public  must  have 
recourse  to  a  less  lettered  process.  This  accounts  for  the  abundance 
of  pictorial  illustrations  that  decorate  so  many  of  the  shop-fronts,  or 
advertise  the  passenger  that  such  and  such  an  artist  may  be  found 
within.  The  optician  announces  his  calling  by  a  profuse  display  of 
spectacles  and  telescopes  ;  the  butcher  suspends  in  front  of  his  estab- 
lishment a  couple  of  painted  oxen,  or  perhaps  a  portrait  of  himself,  in 
the  act  of  presenting  a  ruddy  joint  to  a  passing  dame.  These  signs, 
that  speak  only  the  mute  language  intelligible  to  a  Russian  multitude, 
relieve  in  some  measure  the  monotony  of  the  streets.  The  baker  is 
sure  to  have  a  board  over  his  door  with  a  representation  of  every 
species  of  roll  and  loaf  offered  for  sale  in  his  shop  ;  the  tallow-chand- 
ler is  equally  careful  to  suspend  the  portraits  of  all  his  varieties  of  long 
and  shorts  destined  for  the  enlightenment  of  mankind.  The  musician, 
the  pastrycook,  and,  in  short,  every  handicraftsman  to  whom  the 
humbler  classes  are  likely  to  apply,  have  adopted  the  same  plan,  and 
from  the  second  and  third  floors  huge  pictures  may  sometimes  be  seen 
suspended,  with  appalling  likenesses  of  fiddles,  flutes,  tarts,  sugar- 
plums, sausages,  smoked  hams,  coats,  caps,  shoes,  stockings,  etc. 

"  For  a  barber  the  customary  symbol  is  the  following  picture  : — A 
lady  sits  fainting  in  a  chair.  Before  her  stands  the  man  of  science 
with  a  glittering  lancet  in  his  hand,  and  from  her  snow-white  arm  a 
purple  fountain  springs  into  the  air,  to  fall  afterward  into  a  basin 
held  by  an  attendant  youth.  By  the  side  of  the  lady  sits  a  phlegmatic 
philosopher  undergoing  the  operation  of  shaving,  without  manifesting 
the  slightest  sympathy  for  the  fair  sufferer.  Around  the  whole  is  a 
kind  of  arabesque  border  composed  of  black  leeches  and  instruments 
for  drawing  teeth.  This  picture  is  of  frequent  occurrence  in  every 
large  Russian  town.  The  most  characteristic  of  these  signs  appeared 
to  me  that  of  a  midwife.  A  bed  with  the  curtains  closely  drawn 
announced  the  invisible  presence  of  the  accouchde,  and  in  front  was  a 
newly-arrived  stranger  in  the  lap  of  the  accoucheuse,  and  undergoing, 
to  his  manifest  discomfort,  the  affliction  of  his  first  toilet.  Most  of 
these  pictures  are  very  tolerably  executed,  and  that  of  a  Parisian 
milliner  is  particularly  entitled  to  commendation  for  the  art  expended 
on  the  gauze  caps  and  the  lace  trimmings.  Nor  must  it  be  supposed 
that  the  merchant  is  content  with  displaying  only  one  or  two  of  the 
articles  in  which  he  deals  ;  no,  the  whole  shop  must  figure  on  the 
board,  and  not  only  the  dealer,  but  his  customers  must  be  portrayed 
there.  The  coffee-shop  keeper  does  not  think  he  has  done  enough 
when  he  has  displayed  a  steaming  kettle  and  a  graceful  array  of  cups  ; 


THE  KAZAN  CATHEDRAL.  55 

he  must  have  a  whole  party  making  themselves  comfortable  over  their 
coffee  and  cigars,  and  crying  to  the  wavering  passenger,  '  Go  thou, 
and  do  likewise.'  The  jeweler  must  have  not  only  rings  and  stars 
and  crosses,  but  he  must  have  generals  and  excellencies  as  large  as 
life ,  with  their  breasts  blazing  with  orders,  and  at  least  three  ringers 
on  each  hand  laden  with  rings.  The  Russians  attach  great  importance 
to  these  signs,  and  a  stranger  may  obtain  from  them  some  knowledge 
of  the  manners  of  the  people." — Kohl. 

There  are  fewer  booksellers  than  any  other  kind  of  shop, 
and  the  press  is  still  under  the  most  degrading  surveil- 
lance. What  the  Russians  think  of  authors  is  shown  in 
Kriloffs  fable  in  a  picture  representing  a  part  of  hell. 
There  are  two  caldrons  hanging  in  the  foreground  ;  in 
one  sits  a  robber,  in  the  other  a  wicked  author.  Under 
the  caldron  of  the  latter  the  devil  is  busily  employed  in 
feeding  a  large  fire  ;  while  under  the  robber's  kettle  there 
is  only  a  little  dry  wood,  which  seems  to  emit  a  very 
agreeable  warmth.  The  author  who  has  lifted  the  lid  of 
his  kettle  to  look  over  at  the  thief,  complains  to  the  devil 
that  he  is  worse  treated  than  so  notorious  a  rogue  ;  but 
the  devil  gives  him  a  knock  on  the  head,  and  says,  "  Thou 
wast  worse  than  he  ;  his  sins  have  died  with  him,  but 
thine  will  remain  indestructible  for  ages." 

After  crossing  the  Moika  canal,  a  semicircle  of  columns 
on  the  right — a  ludicrous  caricature  of  the  colonnade  of 
St.  Peter's  at  Rome — announces  the  Cathedral  of  our  Lady 
of  Kazan  (Kazanski  Sobor),  the  second  church  in  the 
city,  which  is  truly  comic  in  its  ambitious  imitation.  In 
the  square  are  Statues  of  the  Field  Marshals  Barclay  de 
Tolly  and  Kutusof,  by  the  Russian  sculptor  Boris  Orlof- 
sky.  The  church  is  a  memorial  of  the  reign  of  Alexan- 
der I.,  and  was  consecrated  in  1811,  having  been  "got 
up  in  two  years."  In  order  to  respect  the  rule  of  the 
Greek  Church  that  the  altar  should  always  be  to  the  east, 
the  main  entrance  is  at  a  corner  of  the  transept.  The 
effect  of  the  nave  is  handsome  from  its  monolith  pillars 
of  Finland  granite,  but  the  building  is  chiefly  remarkable 
as  a  pantheon  and  museum  of  national  trophies — keys  of 
German  and  French  towns,  batons  of  French  marshals, 
standards  of  French,  Turks,  and  Persians. 

' '  The  Persian  flags  are  easily  known  by  a  silver  hand  as  large  as 
life  fastened  to  the  end.  The  Turkish  flags,  surmounted  by  the  cres- 


56  S  TUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

cent,  are  merely  large,  handsome  unsoiled  pieces  of  cloth,  mostly 
red,  and  so  new  and  spotless  that  they  might  be  sold  again  to  the 
merchant  by  the  ell.  It  looks  as  if  both  Turks  and  Persians  had 
handed  over  their  flags  to  the  Russians  out  of  politeness,  and  without 
striking  a  blow.  The  French  colors  which  hang  near  them,  offer  a 
sad  but  most  honorable  contrast.  They  are  rent  to  pieces,  and  to  many 
of  the  eagles  only  a  single  dusty  fragment  is  attached.  Of  some  the 
Russians  have  only  carried  off  the  flagstaff,  perhaps  because  the 
French  ensign  had  swallowed  the  last  rag,  that  it  might  not  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  How  many  unknown  deeds  of  heroism  may 
not  these  flags  have  witnessed  !  Those  eagles  with  their  expanded 
wings,  with  which  they  vainly  sought  to  cover  the  whole  empire,  look 
strangely  enough  in  the  places  they  now  roost  in." — Kohl. 

In  the  original  church  on  this  site  Catherine  II.  was 
crowned  (1762)57  the  Archbishop  of  Novogorod,  during 
the  extraordinary  revolution  which  dethroned  Peter  III. 
Hither  also  all  emperors  and  empresses  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  come  before  setting  out  upon  or  returning  from 
a  journey,  to  invoke  or  thank  "  Our  Lady  of  Kazan  " — a 
holy  picture  which  has  its  own  annual  fete-days.  When 
Alexander  I.  returned  from  his  campaign  against  the 
great  Napoleon,  his  first  visit  was  to  our  Lady  of  Kazan, 
before  whom  he  remained  long  in  prayer,  before  joining 
his  wife  and  mother  at  the  palace.1  It  was  also  before 
the  Madonna  of  Kazan  that  Kutusof  kneeled  before 
advancing  in  1812  ;  whence  she  is  supposed  to  be  specially 
connected  with  that  campaign. 

We  now  reach  the  angle  of  the  Bazar  or  Gostinnoi-dvor, 
(literally  "  The  Stranger's  Court "),  the  front  of  which 
extends  for  an  immense  distance  along  the  Bolshai'a 
Sadovai'a,  or  Great  Garden  Street.  It  is  a  labyrinth  of 
narrow  alleys,  in  which  above  ten  thousand  merchants 
are  at  work.  Furs  are  the  chief  article  of  national  trade, 
but  the  icon  and  church-ornament  shops  are  very  curious, 
and  the  incense  shops  very  pleasant.  In  the  thieves'  quar- 
ter charming  articles  of  beautiful  old  silver  may  be  picked 

i  "  It  is  usual  for  the  sovereign  whenever  he  comes  into  any  city,  especially  into 
the  capital,  to  proceed  directly  to  the  Sobor  or  Cathedral,  where  he  is  met  with  the 
aym<7//a,  or  holy  water  (the  remembrance  of  the  dew  of  baptism),  and  wel- 
comed with  a  short  speech  by  the  bishop  at  the  head  of  his  clergy  ;  after  this  he 
assists  at  a  moleben,  or  short  office,  in  the  church,  and  returns  thanks  to  God  for 
having  brought  him  in  safety  to  the  place  where  he  is  ;  and,  in  like  manner,  the 
last  thing  before  setting  out  on  a  journey  he  goes  to  the  church  to  pray  to  God  to 
prosper  him  and  direct  his  way  ;  and  so  may  be  said,  in  his  '  goings  out  and  com- 
ings in/  to  set  out  from  the  house  of  God  and  return  to  it  again,  according  to  that 
which  is  written — '  In  all  thy  ways  acknowledge  Him,  and  He  shall  direct  thy 
-path.'  " — Blackmore's  Mouraviejjf. 


THE  BAZAR.  57 

up,  but  the  Innostranez,  or  foreigner,  should  not  go  with- 
out some  trusty  Russian  companion,  for  "  Slava  Bogu 
(God  be  thanked),  trade  always  goes  on,"  and  the  stran- 
ger will  not  only  be  outrageously  cheated,  but  may  not  get 
away  without  having  his  purse  cut  out  of  his  pocket,  and 
may  consider  himself  fortunate  if  the  very  rings  are  not 
stripped  off  his  fingers.  The  Russian  cry  for  "  Stop 
thief  !  "  is  frequently  heard  in  the  streets.1  It  is  a  for- 
tunate custom  which  renders  the  tables  of  the  money- 
changers always  safe  in  Russian  bazars  :  from  these  no 
thief  would  ever  think  of  taking  a  single  kopeck.  In  the 
fables  of  Kriloff  the  conversation  of  two  Kupzi  betrays 
how  the  rogues  in  the  Gostinnoi-dvor  cheat  and  circum- 
vent each  other.  "  See,  cousin,"  says  one,  "  how  God  has 
helped  me  to-day.  I  have  sold  for  three  hundred  roubles 
some  Polish  cloth  that  was  not  worth  half  the  money  ;  it 
was  to  an  idiot  of  an  officer,  whom  I  persuaded  that  it  was 
fine  Dutch.  See,  here  is  the  money — thirty  fine  red 
banknotes,  absolutely  new  !  "  "  Show  me  the  notes, 
friend.  They  are  every  one  of  them  bad  !  Out  upon 
you,  fox  !  do  you  let  yourself  be  cheated  by  a  wolf  ?" 

Every  thing  may  be  bought  in  the  bazar.  The  poul- 
terers' stalls  are  interesting  with  the  quantity  of  heath- 
cocks  (reptshiki},  and  white  partridges  (kuropatki)  in 
their  season.  White  hares,  reindeer,  elk,  and  bear's 
flesh  may  also  be  seen. 

In  the  winter,  the  merchants  all  wear  wolfskin  coats 
over  their  caftans,  for  the  cold  in  the  bazar  is  intense,  as 
no  fire  is  allowed  there,  nor  any  lights,  except  the  lamps 
before  the  icons,  which  are  of  course  too  holy  to  be  dan- 
gerous. Yet  all  through  the  severe  weather,  gray  squir- 
rels frisk  in  their  cages,  and  singing  birds  warble  imper- 
vious to  the  frost,  though  they  seldom  have  any  water,  as 
what  is  given  immediately  becomes  ice — but  snow  is 
placed  in  their  troughs. 

The  handsome  square  which  we  next  pass,  on  the  right 
of  the  Nevskoi  Prospekt,  contains  a  fine  Statue  of  Cather- 
ine II.,  upon  which  the  Alexander  Theater  and  the  Impe- 
rial Public  Library  look  down.  In  the  latter  is  preserved 


robb 


An  English  chaplain  at  "Cronstadt  recently  heard  this  cry,  and  saw  a   gigantic 
Der  hotly  pursued  running  toward  him.     Being  a  very  little  man,  and  knowing 

that  he  could,  not    stop    him  by    force,   he  waited    till  he  was  close  by   and  then 

kneeled  in  the  road,  and  the  thief  tumbled  over  him. 


58  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

the  library  of  Voltaire,  purchased  at  his  death  by  Cather- 
ine II.,  with  whom  he  had  long  corresponded.  It  was 
near  this  that  the  terrible  punishment  of  the  Countess 
Lapoukyn  took  place  for  having  lightly  spoken  of  the 
loves  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth. 

"  The  beautiful  culprit  mounted  the  scaffold  in  an  elegant  undress, 
which  increased  the  beauty  of  her  charms  and  the  interest  of  her  sit- 
uation. Distinguished  by  the  captivation  of  her  mind  and  person,  she 
had  been  the  idol  of  the  Court,  and  wherever  she  moved  she  was 
environed  by  admirers  ;  she  was  now  surrounded  by  executioners, 
upon  whom  she  gazed  with  astonishment,  and  seemed  to  doubt  that 
she  was  the  object  of  such  cruel  preparations.  One  of  the  executioners 
pulled  off  a  cloak  which  covered  her  bosom,  at  which  her  modesty  took 
alarm,  she  started  back,  turned  pale,  and  burst  into  tears.  Her  clothes 
were  soon  stripped  off,  and  she  was  naked  to  the  waist,  before  the  eager 
eyes  of  an  immense  concourse  of  people  profoundly  silent.  One  of 
the  executioners  then  took  her  by  both  hands,  and  turning  half  round, 
raised  her  a  little  from  the  ground  ;  upon  which  the  other  executioner- 
laid  hold  of  her  delicate  limbs  with  his  rough  hands,  and  adjusted  her 
on  the  back  of  his  coadjutor.  He  then  retreated  a  few  steps,  and, 
leaping  backwards,  gave  a  stroke  with  his  whip,  so  as  to  carry  away  a 
strip  of  skin  from  the  neck  to  the  bottom  of  her  back  ;  then  striking 
his  feet  against  the  ground,  he  made  a  second  blow  parallel  to  the  form- 
er, and  in  a  few  minutes  all  the  skin  of  the  back  was  cut  away  in  small 
strips,  most  of  which  remained  hanging  to  her  chemise.  Her  tongue 
was  cut  out  immediately  after,  and  she  was  banished  to  Siberia." — 
Carr,  "Northern  Summer"  1805. 

The  Prospekt  now  passes  the  Annitshkoff  Palace,  where 
the  Emperor  Alexander  III.  resided  as  tsarevitch.  This 
palace  was  built  by  the  Empress  Elizabeth  and  given  to 
her  favorite,  Count  Rasumoffsky  ;  it  was  bought  back  by 
Catherine  II.  and  given  to  her  favorite,  Potemkin.  Since 
then  it  has  been  used  as  a  kind  of  St.  James's,  where  the 
emperors  have  received  ambassadors  and  held  councils. 
Hence  the  Cabinet  of  St.  Petersburg  may  be  called  the 
Cabinet  of  Annitshkoff,  as  that  of  London  is  called  the 
Cabinet  of  St.  James's,  and  that  of  Paris  the  Cabinet  of 
the  Tuileries. 

Now  we  cross  the  Fontanka  Canal  to  the  quays,  along 
the  bank  of  which  the  Russian  aristocracy  have  drifted  of 
late  years. 

"  The  Russian  aristocracy  have  been  banished  from  the  central  part 
of  the  town  by  the  invasion  of  industry  and  the  bustle  of  trade.  It  is 
in  the  Litanaia  and  along  the  sides  of  the  Fontanka  Canal,  and  particu- 
larly at  the  eastern  end  of  it,  that  the  most  fashionable  residences  will 


ST.  ALEXANDER  NEVSKOI.  59 

be  found.  It  is  there  that  one  may  see  the  palaces  of  the  Kotshubeys, 
the  Sheremetiefs,  the  Branitzkis,  the  Narishkins,  the  chancelors  of 
the  empire,  the  ministers,  the  grandees,  and  the  millionaires,  on  ground 
where  a  century  ago  nothing  met  the  eye  but  a  few  huts  tenanted  by 
Ingrian  fishermen.  A  quiet  and  magnificent  street  has  since  arisen 
there,  and  the  Orloffs,  the  Dolgoroukis,  the  StroganofTs,  etc.,  have,  it 
mast  be  owned,  displayed  taste  and  judgment  in  their  choice  of  a 
quarter  wherein  to  erect  their  sumptuous  dwellings.  Their  palaces  are 
not  crowded  together  ;  on  the  contrary ,  nearly  every  house  stands 
detached  from  its  neighbors,  with  a  handsome  space  in  front  for 
carriages  to  draw  up,  while  the  apartments  within  are  numerous  and 
spacious.  Suites  of  rooms  will  be  found  in  many  of  them  fitted  up  as 
conservatories  or  winter  gardens — a  species  of  luxury  in  which  the 
aristocracy  indulge  more  perhaps  in  St.  Petersburg  than  in  any  other 
city  in  the  world." — Kohl. 

After  passing  the  Fontanka  bridge,  we  seldom  see  a 
shaven  chin,  the  beards  become  of  more  venerable 
length,  the  caftans  longer.  Ishvoshtniks  seldom  are 
found  further  than  this,  but  public  omnibuses  ply  through 
the  whole  length  of  the  street.  The  houses  become 
smaller,  the  shops  shabbier,  like  those  of  small  provincial 
towns  in  Germany.  Many  of  them  are  painted  in  yellow 
and  red,  in  the  old  Russian  fashion.  The  Nevskoi 
Prospekt  now  gets  uglier  and  meaner,  till  the  great  town 
built  by  Peter  the  Great  and  beautified  by  Catherine  II. 
loses  itself  in  the  miseries  of  nameless  hovels,  and  in  filthy 
and  aimless  open  spaces.  After  passing  the  Moscow  rail- 
wav  station,  near  which  numbers  of  noisy  Russian  peas- 
ants are  singing  round  the  spirit  shops,  the  Nevskoi 
makes  a  sharp  bend,  and  we  enter  the  district  of  wagoners 
and  carpenters,  of  low  wooden  houses,  like  those  of  the 
country  villages,  and  thus  we  reach  the  Convent  of  St. 
Alexander  Nevskoi,  where,  after  having  gone  through 
every  phase  of  Russian  life,  we  are  reminded  of  death 
and  solitude  by  a  convent  and  a  cemetery.  Hither  Peter 
the  Great  "brought  the  sainted  Prince,  Alexander  of  the 
Neva,  to  rest  on  the  banks  of  the  river  which  had  been 
illustrated  by  his  exploits  centuries  before  its  great 
destinies  were  unfolded."  1 

The  Russian  St.  Louis,  Alexander,  son  of  Yaroslaf  the 
Prudent,  who  was  born  in  1221,  repulsed  the  army  of  the 
Swedes  and  Teutonic  knights,  and  wounded  the  king  of 
Sweden  with  his  own  hand  on  the  banks  of  the  Neva, 

i  See  Stanley's  Hist,  of  the  Eastern  Church. 


60  STUDIES  JN  R  US  Si  A . 

whence  he  obtained  the  name  of  Nevskoi.  But  even 
more  important  were  his  victories  over  the  Tartars, 
which  delivered  his  native  country  from  paying  tribute  to 
them.  He  died  at  Gorodetz,  November  10,  1263,  having 
taking  the  monastic  habit  in  the  close  of  his  life.  The 
famous  metropolitan  Cyril  was  then  residing  at 'Vladimir, 
and  when  he  heard  that  the  Great  Prince  was  dead,  he 
announced  it  by  exclaiming,  "  The  sun  of  the  country  has 
set !  Alexander  is  dead,"  and  the  people,  who  had 
regarded  the  hero  of  the  Neva  as  indispensable  to  the 
prosperity  of  Russia,  cried  with  one  voice,  "  Then  we  are 
lost !  "  The  whole  of  the  inhabitants  of  Vladimir  went 
out  to  meet  his  body,  which  they  buried  in  their  cathedral, 
where  it  remained  till  Peter  the  Great  brought  it  hither 
to  consecrate  his  new  capital.  The  majestic  beauty,  the 
Herculean  strength,  the  unflinching  courage,  and  the 
trumpet-like  voice  of  Alexander  are  celebrated  by  con- 
temporary writers.  The  Church  has  placed  him  amongst 
the  tutelary  saints  of  Russia,  and  for  centuries  he  was 
considered  by  the  Russians  as  a  new  celestial  protector, 
to  whom  they  attributed  all  the  fortunate  events  of  their 
country.  His  magnificent  shrine  in  this  church  is  of 
silver,  and  upon  his  tomb  lie  the  keys — the  very  little 
keys — of  Adrianople. 

The  gorgeous  church  is  full  of  magnificent  adornments. 

"  The  Nevskoi  cloister  has  profited  yet  more  by  the  presents  sent 
from  Persepolis  to  the  northern  Petropolis,  when  the  Russian  ambas>a- 
dor  Griboyedoff  was  murdered  in  Teheran,  than  by  the  Byzantine 
tribute.  The  Persian  gifts  consisted  of  a  long  train  of  rare  animals, 
Persian  webs,  gold-stuffs,  and  pearls.  They  reached  St.  Petersburg 
in  winter.  The  pearls  and  gold-stuffs  and  rich  shawls  were  carried  in 
great  silver  and  gold  dishes  by  magnificently-dressed  Persians.  The 
Persian  Prince  Khosreff  Mirza  drove  in  an  imperial  state-equipage 
with  six  horses  :  the  elephants,  bearing  on  their  backs  towers  filled 
with  Indian  warriors,  had  leathern  booths  to  protect  them  from  the 
cold,  and  the  cages  of  the  lions  and  tigers  were  provided  with  double 
skins  of  the  northern  polar  bears.'' — Kohl. 

Here  the  murdered  Peter  III.  was  buried  in  an  almost 
unknown  grave  during  the  reign  of  Catherine  II.  On 
her  death,  the  Emperor  Paul  caused  his  coffin  to  be 
examined,  but  only  a  few  bones  were  found  within  and 
the  Emperor's  boots.  These  were  exposed  for  three  days, 
and,  as  Peter  had  never  been  either  crowned  or  conse- 


DISTANCES  IN  ST.  PETERSBURG.  61 

crated,  those  services  were  read  over  them  before  they 
were  removed  to  rest  with  Peter's  father  and  grandfather 
in  the  Petropaulovski  Cathedral.  Here  Peter's  grandson, 
Alexander  I.,  listened  to  his  own  funeral  service  before 
setting  off  (1825)  to  follow  his  wife  to  the  South,  whence 
he  never  returned.  In  the  crypt,  amongst  other  tombs, 
is  that  of  Suvarof  inscribed,  "  Here  lies  Suvarof,  cele- 
brated for  his  victories,  epigrams,  and  practical  jokes." 

"  C'e'tait  ce  Souvarof,  vrai  soldat  sarmate,  qui  ne  couchait  jamais 
dans  un  lit.  '  Je  hais  la  paresse,'  disait-il ;  'j'ai  toujours  sous  ma 
tente  un  coq  prompt  a  me  reveiller,  et  lorsque  je  veux  ceder au  sommeil 
commodement,  j  ote  un  des  eperons.'" — Falloux,  "  Vie  de  Madame 
Swetchine" 

In  the  vast  St.  Petersburg,  built  in  speculation  on  a 
very  distant  future,  every  visit  is  an  excursion.  Endless 
are  the  open  spaces,  unfinished,  infamously  paved,  edged 
by  sheds,  fringed  with  grass,  almost  populationless.  It 
is  a  town  of  sumptuous  distances,  but  all  the  streets  are 
alike  :  there  is  no  elegance  and  no  originality.  For  the 
most  part  nothing  can  exceed  the  meanness  of  even  the 
handsomest  buildings,  the  copies  of  temples  being  mere 
masses  of  plaster,  without  even  a  hillock  for  base,  the 
sculptures  coarse  copies  of  antique  sphinxes  and  statues. 

' '  Les  Russes  ne  sont  pas  encore  arrives  au  point  du  civilisation  oil 
Ton  peut  reellement  jouir  des  arts.  Jusqu'a  present  leurenthousiasme 
en  ce  genre  est  pure  vanite  ;  c'est  une  prevention,  ainsi  que  leurs  pas- 
sions pour  1'architecture  grecque  et  pour  le  fronton  et  la  colonne  clas- 
sique.  Que  ce  petiple  rentre  en  lui-meme,  qu'il  ecoute  son  genie 
primitif,  et,  s'il  a  recu  du  ciel  le  sentiment  des  arts,  il  renoncera  aux 
copies  pour  produire  ce  que  Dieu  et  la  nature  attendent  de  lui. " — M. 
de  Custine, 

In  one  place  in  St.  Petersburg  there  are  three  houses, 
side  by  side,  to  pass  which  on  foot  will  take  a  man  a  good 
half-hour.1  It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  pedes- 
trian shouts  out  "  Davai,  ishvoshtnik  !  "  to  the  first  of  the 
17,000  droskies,2  stands  of  which  are  to  be  met  with 
everywhere,  with  drivers  in  caftans  down  to  their  feet,  who 
look,  as  Princess  Dashkoff  says,  "  as  if  they  had  a  Turk 
for  their  father  and  a  Quaker  for  their  mother."  A 

1  Kohl. 

2  In  "  Butter  Week" — the  week  before  Lent — all   the  country  droskies  are  also 
allowed  to  come  into  the  capital  and  ply  without  a  license,  so  that   the  streets  are 
then  crowded. 


62  STUDIES  /V  RUSSIA. 

crowd  of  droskies  respond  to  the  call,  each  driver  settling 
himself  as  if  certain  of  being  the  one  selected.  "  Where 
to,  little  father  ?  "  "  To  the  fortress."  "  I'll  take  you  for 
a  rouble."  "  I'll  take  you  for  half."  So  they  compete 
for  several  minutes.  If  you  take  the  cheapest,  a  general 
jeer  arises.  "  Little  father,  little  father,  what  an  absurd 
bargain  you  have  made  !  Your  horse  is  lame  ;  your  driver 
is  drunk — is  a  fool — does  not  know  the  way."  But  no 
one  enjoys  the  joke  more  than  the  successful  candidate 
himself,  who  gathers  up  his  reins,  and  drives  off  in  high 
good-humor.  A  foreigner  is  always  asked  five  times  the 
right  fare  by  a  drosky  driver  :  a  Russian,  only  double. 
The  best  way  is  to  turn  aside  and  walk  away  a  little. 
You  are  sure  to  be  pursued  with  "  Pajoust,  Batiuska  " 
("  As  you  please,  little  father  ")  when  you  may  safely 
jump  in  and  trust  yourself  to  be  whirled  away,  though 
you  may  probably  be  armed  with  no  more  useful  words 
of  Russian  than  the  two  necessary  ones  of  "  Poshol  " 
("  Go  on  "),  and  "  Stoi  "  ("  Stop  "). 

"  The  ishvoshtniks  of  St.  Petersburg  lead  a  sort  of  nomadic  life 
among  the  palaces  of  the  capital.  They  encamp  by  day  in  the  streets, 
and  so  do  many  of  them  during  the  night,  their  sledge  serving  them  at 
once  as  house  and  bed.  Like  the  Bedouin  Arabs,  they  carry  the  oat- 
bag  constantly  with  them,  and  fasten  it,  during  their  intervals  of 
leisure,  to  the  noses  of  their  steeds.  In  every  street  arrangements 
have  been  made  for  the  convenience  of  the  ishvoshtniks.  Every  here 
and  there  mangers  are  erected  for  their  use  ;  to  water  their  horses, 
there  are  in  all  parts  of  the  town  convenient  descents  to  the  canals  or 
to  the  river  ;  and  hay  is  sold  at  a  number  of  shops  in  small  bundles, 
just  sufficient  for  one  or  two  horses.  To  still  the  thirst  and  hunger  of 
the  charioteers  themselves,  there  are  peripatetic  dealers  in  quass,  tea, 
and  bread,  who  are  constantly  wandering  about  the  streets  to  feed  the 
hungry.  The  animals  are  as  hardy  as  their  masters.  Neither  care  for 
cold  or  rain  ;  both  eat  as  opportunity  serves,  and  are  content  to  take 
their  sleep  when  it  comes.  Yet  they  are  always  cheerful  ;  the  horses 
ever  ready  to  start  off  at  a  smart  trot ;  the  drivers  at  all  times  disposed 
for  a  song,  a  joke,  or  a  gossip.  When  they  are  neither  eating  nor 
engaged  in  any  other  serious  occupation,  they  lounge  about  their 
sledges,  singing  some  simple  melody  that  they  have  probably  brought 
with  them  from  their  native  forests.  When  several  of  them  happen  to 
be  together  at  the  corner  of  a  street,  they  are  sure  to  be  engaged  in 
some  game  or  other,  pelting  with  snow-balls,  wrestling,  or  bantering 
each  other,  till  the  "  Davai,  ishvoshtnik  !  "  of  some  chance  passenger 
makes  them  all  grasp  their  whips  in  a  moment,  and  converts  them  into 
eager  competitors  for  the  expected  gain. 

"  The  Russian  coachman  seems  to  trust  more  to  the  persuasiveness 


THE  TSLAXDS.  63 

of  his  own  eloquence  than  to  any  thing  else.  He  seldom  uses  his  whip, 
and  generally  only  knocks  with  it  upon  the  foot-board  of  his  sledge,  by 
way  of  a  gentle  admonition  to  his  steed,  with  whom  meanwhile  he 
keeps  up  a  running  colloquy,  seldom  giving  him  harder  words  than, 
'my  brother,'  'my  friend,'  'my  little  father.'  'my  sweetheart,' 
'  my  little  white  pigeon,' etc.  'Come,  my  pretty  pigeon,  make  use 
of  thy  legs'  he  will  say.  'What,  now?  art  thou  blind?  Come,  be 
quick  !  Take  care  of  that  stone  there.  Dost  thou  not  see  it  ?  There, 
that's  right,  Bravo  !  hop.  hop,  hop  !  steady,  boy,  steady  !  Now 
what  art  thou  turning  thy  head  for  ?  Look  boldly  before  thee  !  Huzza! 
Yukh!  Yukh! '"— Kohl. 


The  brightest  side  of  St.  Petersburg  is  to  be  seen  in 
the  drive — the  favorite  drive — to  the  islands.  First  we 
pass  along  the  stone  quays  of  the  Neva,  the  handsomest 
feature  in  this  city  of  stucco  and  plaster,  and  observe 
that  there  is  only  one  stone  bridge,  for  the  new  capital 
was  purposely  built  without  bridges,  that  Peter  and  his 
people  might  be  constantly  on  the  water,  passing  and 
repassing,  in  the  two-oared  ferry-boats  which  were 
designed  by  the  Tsar,  and  which  are  still  in  use. 

"  On  pretend  avec  raison  qu'on  ne  peut,  a  Petersbourg,  dire  d'une 
femme  qu'elle  est  vieille  comme  les  rues,  tant  les  rues  elles-memes  sont 
modernes.  Les  edifices  sont  encore  d'une  blancheur  eblouissante,  et 
la  nuit,  quand  la  lune  les  eclaire,  on  croit  voir  de  grands  fantomes 
blancs  qui  regardent,  immobiles,  le  cours  de  la  Neva.  Je  ne  sais  ce 
qu'il  y  a  de  particulierement  beau  dans  ce  fleuve,  mais  jamais  les  flots 
d'aucune  riviere  ne  m'ont  paru  si  limpides.  Des  quais  de  granit  de 
trente  verstes  de  long  bordent  ses  ondes,  et  cette  magnificence  de  tra- 
vail de  1'homme  est  digne  de  1  eau  transparente  qu'elle  decore." — 
Madame  de  StaeL 

Many  of  the  houses  which  line  the  quays  are  of  great 
size,  which  may  be  imagined  from  the  fact  that  in  some 
of  the  palaces  of  the  nobles  one  hundred  and  twenty  serv- 
ants are  not  thought  superfluous.  But  Russian  servants 
are  terribly  lazy,  and  every  servant  has  only  one  avoca- 
tion, as  in  India  :  they  refuse  to  mix  their  service. 

The  reception  rooms  are  usually  of  great  magnificence. 
At  the  end  of  most  suites  of  them  is  a  boudoir  with  a 
grille  of  ivy  (which  will  not  bear  the  Russian  winter,  but 
is  much  used  in  the  internal  decoration  of  houses)  or 
flowering  plants  in  front  of  it,  only  large  enough  to 
receive  two  or  three  persons  at  a  time,  possessing  an  air 
of  intimacy  and  seclusion.  Artificial  flowers  are  often 


64  STUDIES  IN  J?  USSIA . 

planted,  to  give  a  festal  aspect,  in  the  sand  which  is 
placed  to  absorb  the  damp  between  the  double  windows. 
The  hospitality  of  the  great  Russian  families  is  proverb- 
ial, and  their  kind  reception  of  strangers.  In  winter 
the  "  society "  is  perhaps  gayer  than  that  of  any  other 
capital. 

"  C'est  un  tourbillon  continual  que  la  bonne  compagnie  en  Russie, 
et  peut-etre  que  1'extreme  prudence  a  laquelle  un  gouvernment  des- 
potique  accoutume,  fait  que  les  Russes  sont  charmes  de  n'etre  point 
exposes,  par  1  entrainement  de  la  conversation,  a  parler  sur  des  sujets 
qui  puissent  avoir  une  consequence  quelconque." — Madame  de  Stael. 

It  is  rather  the  love  of  ostentation  than  wealth  which 
influences  the  display  of  the  great  Russian  families,  but 
the  same  pride  of  life  exists  far  beyond  the  highest 
circles,  and  in  many  houses  of  an  inferior  rank,  with  great 
outward  appearance,  there  is  often  a  want  of  what  to 
English  minds  would  be  necessary  comfort.  The  bed- 
rooms are  very  inferior,  and  in  many  houses,  whose 
inmates  sacrifice  their  comfort  to  outward  effect,  they 
do  not  exist  at  all.  All  the  rooms  are  used  for  show  ; 
the  mistress  of  the  house  has  an  improvised  sleeping- 
place  upon  a  sofa,  and  the  servants  rest  where  they  can 
upon  the  floors  of  the  passages.  The  horrors  of  a  Rus- 
sian kitchen  are  often  such  as  may  be  imagined — not 
described. 

"  L'interieur  des  habitations  est  triste,  parce  que  malgre  la  magni- 
ficence de  rameublement  entasse  a  1  anglaise  dans  certaines  pieces  des- 
tinees  a  re^evoir  du  monde,  on  entrevoit  dans  1'ombre  une  salete  do~ 
mestique,  un  desordre  naturel  et  profond  qui  rappelle  1'Asie. 

"  Le  meuble  dont  on  use  le  moins  dans  une  maison  russe,  c'est  le 
lit.  Des  femmes  de  service  couchent  dans  des  soupentes,  pareilles  a 
celles  des  anciennes  loges  de  portiers  en  France,  tandis  que  les  hom- 
mes  se  roulent  sur  1'escalier,  dans  les  vestibules,  et  meme,  dit-on,  dans 
le  salon  sur  les  coussins  qu'ils  jettent  a  terre  pour  la  nuit." — M.  de 
Custine. 

It  is  not  only  the  houses  of  the  nobility  which  are 
gigantic  in  size  ;  there  are  many  of  these  huge  dwellings 
on  the  different  floors  of  which  every  class  and  subdivis- 
ion of  society  has  its  representatives. 

"  When  such  a  house  is  burned  down,  two  hundred  families  at 
once  become  roofless.  To  seek  any  one  in  such  a  house  is  a  real  trial 
of  patience.  Ask  the  butshnik  (the  policeman  at  the  corner  of  the 


V A  SSI  LI  O  STROP.  65 

Street),  and  he  will  tell  you  that  his  knowledge  extends  only  to  one 
side  of  the  house,  but  that  the  names  of  those  who  live  in  the  other 
half  are  unknown  to  him.  There  are  so  many  holes  and  corners  in 
such  a  house,  that  even  those  who  live  in  it  are  unable  to  tell  you  the 
names  of  all  the  inmates  ;  and  no  man  thinks  another  his  neighbor 
merely  because  they  happen  to  live  under  the  same  roof.  Many  of 
these  houses  look  unpretending  enough  when  seen  from  the  street,  to 
which  they  always  turn  their  smallest  side  ;  but  enter  tin&podydsde  or 
gateway,  and  you  are  astonished  at  the  succession  of  side-buildings  and 
back-buildings,  of  passages  and  courts,  some  of  the  latter  large  enough 
to  review  a  regiment  of  cavalry  in  them." — Kohl. 

We  cross  the  bridge  into  Vassili  Ostrof  (Basil  Island), 
the  largest  of  the  islands  in  the  Neva,  and  the  commercial 
center  of  the  town.  As  a  prelude  to  Cronstadt,  Peter  the 
Great,  when  founding  St.  Petersburg,  had  erected  a  bat- 
tery on  a  nearer  island,  commanded  by  Vassili  Demetrie- 
vitch.  The  orders  to  this  officer  were  directed  to  Vassili 
na  Ostrof — Basil  on  the  island — and  the  name  has  clung 
to  the  island  ever  since.  Peter  the  Great  intended  Vas- 
sili Ostrof  to  be  the  center  of  his  new  capital,  but  the 
court  was  afterwards  moved  hence  to  the  Admiralty 
quarter,  and  Basil  Island  is  now  for  the  most  part  covered 
with  warehouses,  though  it  has  some  handsome  build- 
ings. On  the  public  buildings  classical  decorations  are 
universal. 

"  La  colonne  cla*sique  est  devenue  le  cachet  de  1'edifice  public  en 
Russie." 

"  A  defaut  du  sentiment  de  1'art  et  des  libres  creations  de  la  fantat- 
sie  s'exer£ant  sur  les  donnees  populaires  qu'elles  representent,  une 
justesse  de  coup  d'o?il  mathematique  a  preside  a  la  creation  de  Peters- 
bourg.  Ainsi  ne  peut-on  oublier  un  instant,  en  parcourant  cette 
patrie  des  monuments  sans  genie,  que  c'est  une  ville  nee  d  un  homme 
et  non  d'un  peuple.  Les  conceptions  y  paraissent  etroites,  quoique 
les  dimensions  y  soient  enormes.  C'est  que  tout  peut  se  commander, 
hors  la  grace,  sceur  de  1' imagination." — M.  de  Custine. 

On  the  extreme  eastern  point  of  the  island  is  the 
Exchange,  with  grand  granite  quays  on  either  side. 

"  The  narrow  un-ideal  nature  of  the  Russian  can  not  free  itself  from 
its  false  estimation  of  the  value  of  money,  nor  rise  to  an  elevated 
view  of  the  wants  and  nature  of  the  times.  Money  is  not,  in  his 
eyes,  an  instrument  for  the  increase  of  credit  and  extension  of  the 
sphere  of  operation  ;  the  shining  metal  itself  is  the  one  and  only 
object  ;  he  can  rarely  prevail  on  himself  to  part  with  the  money  once 
clutched,  or  incur  voluntarily  a  small  loss  to  ward  off  a  greater.  In 
spite,  however,  of  their  false  commercial  system,  the  great  mass  of  the 


66  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

worshipers  in  the  temple  of  the  Russian  Plutus  are  wealthy  ;  and, 
with  all  their  fondness  for  money,  no  people  bear  commercial  losses  as 
easily  as  the  Russians.  This  seeming  contradiction  is  partly  to  be 
explained  by  the  light  temperament  of  the  Russian,  and  partly  by  the 
fact  that  no  Russian  merchant  considers  his  honor  as  a  merchant,  or 
his  credit  as  a  citizen,  at  all  affected  by  his  failure,  simply  because 
such  things  have  no  existence  for  him.  'Bays'nim'  ('God  be  with 
it'),  he  says  to  his  faithless  treasure,  and  begins  anew  the  erection  of 
his  card  edifice." — Kohl. 

After  crossing  Vassili  Ostrof,  we  reach  the  five  north- 
western isles  of  the  Neva,  separated  by  the  arms  of  the 
greater  and  lesser  Nevka  and  the  Neva.  These  are  the 
islands — "  the  Garden  Islands,"  Krestovsky  (the  Cross 
Island),  Kammenoi  Ostrof  (the  Stone  Island),  Petrofskoi 
Ostrof  (Peter's  Island),  Yelaginskoi  Ostrof  (Yelagin 
Island),  and  the  Apothecary  Island.  When  people  say 
"  Let  us  go  to  the  Islands,"  it  is  always  these  that  they 
mean.  These  islands  represent  the  country,  and  are  the 
parks  of  St.  Petersburg.  "  Nature,  odious  nature,"  says 
M.  de  Custine,  "  is  conquered  here."  An  endless  variety 
of  drives  wind  through  shady  alleys  in  primeval  woods, 
partly  cleared,  but  partly  untouched,  and  cross  green 
meadows  and  rushing  brooks,  or  skirt  transparent  lakes, 
or  broad  reaches  of  the  Neva ;  with  mosque-like  build- 
ings on  the  other  side  of  the  river  framed  by  twisted  wil- 
low-boughs. Interspersed  amongst  the  trees  are  the 
pleasant  Datchas — literally  "  gifts  " — villas  originating  in 
the  gifts  made  by  Catherine  II.  to  her  favorites,  that 
they  might  lay  out  gardens.  Kammenoi  Ostrof,  the  chief 
residence  of  the  wealthier  classes,  presents  every  variety 
of  villa-architecture — Gothic,  Italian,  Saracenic. 

"  Ce  n'est  pas  la  f  econdite  primitive  du  sol  qui  orne  et  varie  les 
habitations  de  luxe  a  Petersbourg  :  c'est  la  civilisation  qui  met  a  profit 
les  richesses  du  monde  entier,  afin  de  deguiser  la  pauvrete  de  la  terre 
et  1' avarice  du  ciel  polaire.  Ne  vous  etonnez  done  plus  des  vanteries 
des  Russes  :  la  nature  n'est  pour  eux  qu'un  ennemi  de  plus,  vaincu 
par  leur  opiniatrete  ;  au  fond  de  tous  leurs  divertissements,  il  y  a  la 
joie  et  Torgueil  du  triomphe." — M.  de  Custine. 

The  furthest  island — Yelagin  Island — was  first  given  to 
a  Melgunoff,  then  to  a  Yelagin,  and  now  belongs  to  the 
imperial  family.  It  was  presented  by  Nicholas  to  the 
widow  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  I.,  by  whom  it  was  left 
to  the  Grand-Duke  Michael  and  his  descendants.  The 


THE  ISLANDS.  6^ 

island  is  partly  covered  by  the  gardens  of  the  villa — a 
sort  of  imperial  Tivoli.1  "  Society  "  drives  here  as  far  as 
"  the  Point,"  with  a  fine  view  toward  the  open  sea,  which, 
in  a  south-west  gale,  is  blown  furiously  over  the  island  and 
covers  every  thing  but  the  raised  footpaths.  The  best 
equipages  in  St.  Petersburg  may  be  seen  in  the  drives  on 
the  islands,  and,  though  less  pretentious,  they  are  greatly 
improved  since  the  end  of  the  last  century,  when  every 
gentleman  entitled  by  rank  rather  than  fortune  to  have 
six  horses  was  obliged  to  be  drawn  by  them,  but  no  re- 
gard was  paid  to  quality,  size,  or  color.2 

The  lower  orders  are  almost  all  clothed  in  the  national 
sheepskins.  Peter  the  Great  and  Catherine  II.  vainly 
tried  to  force  the  German  dress  upon  their  subjects, 
though,  in  their  reigns,  with  the  exception  of  the  clergy, 
no  one  could  obtain  place  or  favor  unless  they  banished 
their  Asiatic  robes,  and  even  the  worn-out  veteran  only 
received  his  pension  upon  terms  of  never  again  assuming 
the  dress  of  his  fathers. 

The  many  cafes  and  restaurants  upon  the  islands  are 
much  frequented  by  summer  pleasure-seekers,  but  the 
chill  during  August  evenings  shows  that  the  brief  summer 
is  already  waning. 

"  Aux  iles,  toutes  les  maisons  et  tousles  chemins  se  ressemblent. 
Dans  cette  promenade  1'etranger  erre  sans  ennui,  du  moins  le  premier 
jour.  L'ombre  du  bouleau  est  transparente  ;  mais  sous  le  soleil  du 
nord  on  ne  cherche  pas  une  feuillee  bien  epaisse.  Un  canal  succede 
a  un  lac,  une  prairie  a  un  bosquet,  une  cabane  a  une  villa,  une  allee  a 
une  allee,  au  bout  de  laquelle  vous  retrouvez  des  sites  tout  pareils  a 
ceux  que  vous  venez  de  laisser  derriere  vous.  Ces  tableaux  reveurs 
captivent  1'imagination  sans  1'interesser  vivement,  sans  piquer  la 
curiosite  :  c'est  du  repos.1' — M.  de  C  us  tine. 

We  returned  from  the  islands  under  one  of  those  "  pale 
green  skies"  of  evening  described  by  Pouchkine,3  which 
before  we  reached  the  town  had  become  a  black-blue 
canopy  with  the  shooting  stars  believed  by  Russians  to 
be  angels  descending  to  fetch  human  souls.  In  Russia, 
each  child  has  its  especial  star,  which  is  believed  to  ap- 
pear at  its  birth  and  to  vanish  at  its  death.  In  this 

i  Custine.  -2  See  Swinton's  Travels^  1792. 

3  "  Under  a  sky  of  pale  green — 
Weariness,  cold  and  granite." 

Pouchkine's  Works^  ed.  1859,  *•  377- 


#8  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

night-drive  we  saw  the  Dvorniks  (at  once  servants,  watch- 
men, and  police-agents)  lying  curled  up  like  dogs  before 
the  doors  of  the  different  villas.  Thus  they  sleep,  even 
through  the  snow  of  winter,  with  marvelous  resistance 
of  cold. 

In  returning  from  the  islands  it  is  easy  to  visit  the 
Fortress  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Neva,  inclosing  the 
Cathedral  of  Saints  Peter  and  Paul  (Petropaulovski 
Sobor),  which  is  like  an  historical  sequel  to  the  famous 
Cathedral  of  St.  Michael  in  the  Kremlin  of  Moscow, 
being  the  burial-place  of  the  latter  sovereigns  of  the 
house  of  Romanoff. 


.'_  ~1 

~-          I 
THE    FORTRESS,   ST.    PETERSBURG. 


"  The  pointed  slender  tower  rises  like  a  mast  340  feet  in  height  ; 
for  the  last  150  feet  the  tower  is  so  small  and  thin,  that  it  must  be 
climbed  like  a  pine-tree.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  metal  angel  at 
the  top  needed  some  repairs,  an  adventurous  workman  reached  the 
summit  thus  :  from  the  last  gallery  of  the  tower  he  knocked  in  a  hook 
as  high  as  he  could  reach  from  a  ladder,  threw  a  rope  over  it,  and 
dragged  himself  up  by  it  ;  he  then  knocked  in  a  second  hook,  which 
he  also  mounted  by  means  of  his  rope,  and  so  reached  the  top.  On 
the  gilding  of  this  slender  tower,  which  is  seen  from  all  parts  of  St. 
Petersburg  like  a  golden  needle  hovering  in  the  air,  particularly  when, 
as  is  frequently  the  case,  the  lower  part  is  veiled  in  fog,  10,000  ducats 
have  already  been  lavished." — Kohl. 

The  church  is  always  open,  but  is  watched  over  by  a 
number  of  military  guardians.  It  is  heavily  and  gor- 
geously gilt  within,  and  has  no  seats  anywhere,  after  the 
fashion  of  Russian  churches.  Splendid  pictures  covered 


TOMB  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT.  69 

with  gold  and  precious  stones  gleam  upon  the  walls,  and 
all  around,  half  concealed  by  groves  of  living  palms,  or 
by  ivy  upon  trellis-work,  are  the  tombs  of  the  Romanoffs. 
They  are  all  alike,  simple  stately  sarcophagi  of  white 
marble,  with  gold  ornaments.  The  tombs  begin  on  the 
right  of  the  altar,  with  the  immediate  family  of  Peter  the 
Great — persons  who  bore  so  great  an  influence  upon  their 
age,  and  who  so  totally  changed  the  character  of  the 
great  Russian  empire,  that  it  is  impossible  not  to  pause 
beside  their  monuments,  while  regretting  that  the  tenets 
of  the  Greek  religion  forbid  sculpture  upon  them. 

First,  near  the  south  door  is  the  tomb  of  Peter  the 
Great,  who  died  February  9,  1725,  after  a  life  which  re- 
deemed the  cruelties  of  a  tyrant  by  the  virtues  of  a  legis- 
lator. His  body  remained  on  a  catafalque  under  a  can- 
opy in  the  center  of  the  nave  till  June  i,  1731,  in  the 
reign  of  the  Empress  Anne,  when  it  was  buried.  If  a 
newly-born  child  appears  delicate,  the  Russians  have  it 
measured  by  the  nearest  pope  or  priest,  and  a  picture  of 
it  and  its  two  guardian-angels  painted,  which  must  be  of 
exactly  the  same  size  as  the  child  ;  this  picture,  called 
the  Obraz,  is  supposed  to  exercise  a  salutary  influence, 
and  is  carefully  preserved  through  life.  Three  days  after 
the  birth  of  Peter,  Simeon  Ushakof,  the  most  skillful 
native  artist  of  the  day  was  employed  to  decorate  a  meas- 
ure taken  by  the  pope — a  board  of  cypress  nineteen  and 
a  quarter  inches  long,  and  five  and  a  quarter  broad — 
with  a  representation  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  the  apostle 
Peter.  Ushakof  died  before  he  had  finished  his  work, 
which  was  finished  by  the  hand  of  one  Theodore  Koslof. 
This  curious  "  birth-measure  "  of  the  great  Peter  still 
hangs  near  his  tomb. 

Count  Stackelberg  described  Peter  the  Great,  whom  he 
had  known  personally,  as  six  feet  high,  strong  and  well 
made,  with  his  head  slouching  and  awry,  of  a  dark  com- 
plexion, and  a  countenance  continually  subject  to  distor- 
tions. He  was  generally  dressed  in  his  green  uniform  or 
a  plain  brown  coat,  was  remarkable  for  the  fineness  of 
his  linen,  and  wore  his  short  black  hair  without  powder. 
Externally,  Russia  owed  to  him  the  being  raised  from  a 
third-rate  power  to  a  political  equality  with  Western 
Europe,  and  having  her  embassies  placed  on  the  same 


70  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

footing  with  those  of  other  countries.  Internally,  it 
owed  to  him  six  new  provinces,  its  fleet,  admiralty,  naval 
academy,  schools,  public  library,  picture-gallery,"  manu- 
factures, the  reform  of  its  finances,  the  emancipation  of 
its  women  :  in  a  word,  its  earliest  civilization. 

One  of  the  songs  of  the  people,  in  use  after  the  death 
of  Peter  the  Great,  ends  in  a  touching  allusion  to 
the  tie  of  military  brotherhood  between  the  Tsar  and 
his  soldiers,  and  to  the  modest  rank  of  captain  of  the 
bombardiers  with  which  he  was  satisfied  till  the  taking  of 
Azof. 

"  In  our  holy  Russia,  in  the  glorious  town  of  Piter,  in  the  cathedral 
of  Peter  and  Paul,  on  the  right  side,  by  the  tombs  of  the  Tsars,  a 
young  soldier  was  on  duty. 

"  Standing  there,  he  thought,  and,  thinking,  he  began  to  weep.  He 
wept :  it  was  a  river  which  flowed  ;  he  sobbed  :  it  was  the  throb  of 
wr.ves. 

"  Bathed  in  tears,  he  cried—'  Alas  !  our  mother,  the  wet  land  open 
on  every  side.  Open,  ye  bands  of  coffins  !  open,  ye  golden  coverlets  ! 
and  thou,  O  orthodox  Tsar,  do  thou  awake,  do  thou  arise  !  Look, 
master,  on  thy  guard,  contemplate  all  thine  army  ;  see  how  the  regi- 
ments are  disciplined  ;  how  the  colonels  are  with  the  regiments,  and 
all  the  majors  with  their  horses,  the  captains  at  the  head  of  their  com- 
panies, the  officers  leading  their  divisions,  the  ensigns  supporting  the 
standards.  They  wait  for  their  colonel — for  the  colonel  of  the  regi- 
ment Preobrajenski — for  the  captain  of  the  bombardiers.'  " 

Close  to  the  tomb  of  Peter  is  that  of  his  beloved 
Katinka,  the  Empress  Catherine  /.,  his  second  wife. 

Catherine  was  born  in  the  village  of  Ringen,  near  Dor- 
pat,  and  was  probably  the  natural  daughter  of  a  Lithuanian 
peasant  named  Samuel  Skavronsky.  The  little  Martha 
(as  she  was  called  till  her  Greek  baptism),  being  left  des- 
titute and  an  orphan,  was  taken  into  the  house  of  Pastor 
Gluck  at  Marienburg,  where  she  was  nursery-maid  to  his 
children  and  made  herself  generally  useful.  While  here 
she  became  engaged  to  a  Swedish  dragoon,  but,  before 
their  marriage,  he  was  summoned  to  join  his  company  at 
Riga,  and  he  was  killed  in  battle  in  1705.  On  the  cap- 
ture of  Marienburg  by  Sheremetieff,  Gluck  and  his  family 
were  sent  to  Moscow,  but  General  Bauer,  seeing  the 
beautiful  Catherine  among  his  prisoners,  took  her  into 
his  house.  Hence  she  passed  to  the  protection  of  Prince 
Mentchikoff,  till  1704,  when  she  became  the  mistress  of 


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7  2  STUD  IE  S  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

Peter  the  Great.  She  was  then  seventeen  and  very  pretty  ; 
she  could  neither  read  nor  write,  but  had  been  otherwise 
well  taught  by  Gluck  and  was  very  merry  and  intelligent. 
She  had  several  children  by  the  Tsar  before  they  were 
married  at  Warsaw  in  1711.  Her  attention  and  liveliness 
gave  her  complete  ascendency  over  the  melancholy  and 
morose  Peter.  In  his  semi-madness  the  fascination  of 
her  voice  at  once  soothed  and  tamed  him,  and  she  became 
the  indispensable  companion  of  his  journeys  and  cam- 
paigns. She  acquired  great  popularity  by  prevailing 
upon  Peter  to  consent  to  the  Peace  of  Pruth,  and  her 
courage  on  this  occasion  was  made  a  reason  for  her  cor- 
onation in  1724.  A  short  time  before  the  death  of  the 
Tsar,  he  imagined  that  he  had  discovered  an  intrigue 
between  Catherine  and  her  first  chamberlain  Mons.  The 
chamberlain  and  his  sister  were  arrested  on  an  accusation 
of  receiving  bribes ;  he  was  beheaded  and  she  knouted 
and  banished  to  Siberia.  On  the  next  day  Peter  took 
Catherine  in  an  open  carriage  under  the  gallows  upon 
which  the  head  of  Mons  was  fixed.  Without  changing 
color  in  the  least,  she  merely  said,  "  What  a  pity  it  is  that 
there  is  so  much  corruption  amongst  courtiers  !  "  and  her 
reputation  was  saved.  Soon  after,  Peter  died,  having  put 
off  the  appointment  of  his  successor,  and  being  in  such 
dreadful  tortures  upon  his  deathbed  that  he  was  unable 
to  attend  to  it.  But,  while  he  was  dying,  Prince  Men- 
tchikoff  seized  the  treasure,  secured  the  fortress,  gained 
over  the  clergy,  and,  by  bribing  right  and  left,  obtained 
the  succession  of  Catherine  in  right  of  her  coronation. 
This  gave  Mentchikoff  such  an  influence  during  her  reign 
that  he  may  be  considered  the  real  ruler  of  Russia  at  that 
time,  the  Empress  chiefly  passing  her  time  in  idleness  and 
intemperance,  which  caused  her  death  (1727),  in  her 
thirty-ninth  year,  after  a  reign  of  only  two  years.  To  the 
last,  she  could  never  read  or  write,  and  her  daughter 
Elizabeth  always  signed  her  name  for  her,  but  she  cvas 
always  free  from  affectation,  and  bore  her  elevation  to 
the  throne  with  simplicity  and  dignity. 

"  She  was  a  very  pretty,  well-lookt  woman,  of  good  sense,  but  not 
of  that  sublimity  of  wit,  or  rather  that  quickness  of  imagination,  which 
some  people  have  believed.  The  great  reason  why  the  Tsar  was  so 
fond  of  her,  was  her  exceeding  good  temper  :  she  rever  was  seen 


TOMB  OF  ELIZA  BE  TH.  7  3 

peevish  or  out  of  humor  ;  obliging  and  civil  to  all,  and  never  forgetful 
of  her  former  condition  ;  withal,  mighty  grateful." — Gordon. 

Close  to  Catherine  rests  her  handsome  and  amorous 
daughter  Elizabeth,  who  succeeded  the  Empress  Anne 
upon  the  deposition  from  brief  power  of  the  Regent  Anne, 
Duchess  of  Courland  (daughter  of  the  Empress  Anne's 
elder  sister  Catherine),  and  her  child,  who  had  been  pro- 
claimed as  Ivan  VI.  Elizabeth  imprisoned  her  unfor- 
tunate rivals  for  life,  but  otherwise  had  the  reputation  of 
a  humane  princess,  except  when  her  subjects  commented 
too  freely  upon  her  amours,  for  which  crime  the  Count- 
esses Lapoukyn  and  Bestuchef  each  received  fifty  strokes 
of  the  knout  in  the  open  square  of  St.  Petersburg,  had 
their  tongues  cut  out,  and  were  banished  to  Siberia.  The 
Empress  Elizabeth,  who  never  married,  did  much  for  the 
embellishment  of  St.  Petersburg.  She  died  in  1761,  aged 
fifty-three,  after  a  reign  of  twenty-one  years. 

Immediately  behind  rests  the  Empress  Anne  (Duchess 
of  Courland),  daughter  of  Ivan  V.,  elder  brother  of  Peter 
the  Great.  Upon  the  death  of  Peter's  grandson,  Peter 
II.,  she  was  elected  rather  than  the  son  of  Anne  of  Hoi- 
stein,  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  because  the  nobles 
thought  she  would  more  readily  agree  to  their  plan  for 
limiting  the  power  of  the  crown  and  reserving  the  chief 
authority  to  themselves.  She  obtained  the  throne  at 
Mitau  by  signing  their  articles  at  once,  but  revoked  her 
signature  as  soon  as  she  reached  Moscow,  saying  that  she 
had  been  deceived  into  believing  that  they  were  the  will 
of  the  whole  nation.  She  was  always  governed  by  her 
lover  Biren,  whose  cruelties  tarnished  her  reign,  though 
she  often  interceded  for  his  victims.  She  died  in  October 
1740,  having  nominated  her  great-nephew,  grandson  of 
her  elder  sister  Catherine,  her  successor,  as  Ivan  VI. 

On  a  line  with  Anne  are  the  sarcophagi  of  Peter  III. 
and  the  great  Catherine  II. 

The  weak  and  depraved  Peter  III.  was  the  son  of 
Anne,  Duchess  of  Holstein-Gottorp,  eldest  daughter  of 
Peter  the  Great  and  Catherine  I.  He  succeeded  his  aunt, 
the  Empress  Elizabeth,  in  1762,  and  in  the  same  year 
was  driven  from  the  throne  in  a  revolution  headed  by  his 
wife,  and  a  few  days  after  was  murdered  at  the  solitary 


74  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

palace  of  Ropscha.  At  first  he  was  buried  in  the  church 
of  St.  Alexander  Nevskoi,  but,  on  his  wife's  death,  their 
son  Paul  had  his  remains  taken  up,  and  laid  in  state  by 
his  mother  in  the  palace.  Only  one  person,  an  arch- 
bishop, knew  the  secret  spot  where  his  bones  rested, 
unmarked  by  monument  or  inscription.  Count  Alexis 
Orlof  and  Count  Bariatinski,  the  reputed  murderers  of 
Peter,  were  summoned,  and  forced  to  stand  on  each  side 
of  his  corpse  as  it  lay  in  state,  and  to  walk  behind  it  when 
it  was  carried  to  its  new  grave.  Orlof  was  perfectly  com- 
posed, but  Bariatinski  fainted  repeatedly.  The  bodies  of 
Peter  and  Catherine  were  drawn  by  horses  upon  low  car- 
riages, and  behind,  with  hands  folded,  pale  as  death, 
walked  Orlof,  next  the  Emperor,  who  manifested  by  this 
sublime  though  mysterious  sacrifice  to  the  Manes  of 
his  father,  a  feeling  worthy  of  a  greater  character.1 
Immediately  afterward  the  murderers  were  banished. 

Catherine  II.  was  the  Princess  Sophia  Augusta  of 
Anhalt-Zerbst,  who  took  the  name  of  Catherine  upon  her 
Greek  baptism.  In  1744  she  married  Peter,  nephew  of 
the  Empress  Elizabeth,  who  succeeded  to  the  throne, 
abdicated,  and  died  in  1762.  Her  reign  was  distinguished 
by  victories  of  Russia  over  the  Turks  and  Tartars,  and 
her  desire  for  personal  distinction  led  her  to  do  much  to 
improve  the  social  life  of  Russia  and  ameliorate  the  con- 
dition of  the  people.  She  had  a  passion  for  literature, 
and  herself  wrote  a  number  of  books  for  children.2  The 
number  of  her  offspring  by  her  different  lovers  has 
originated  a  fresh  class  of  Russian  nobility.  To  her 
favorites  she  was  most  munificent,  and  the  most  cele- 
brated of  these — the  brothers  Orlof,  Vissensky,  Vassilts- 
chikef,  Potemkin,  Zavodofsky,  Zoritch,  Korzakof,  Lans- 
koi,  Yermolof,  Momonof,  Plato  and  Valerian  Zubof— 
received  as  much  as  92,820,000  roubles  amongst  them. 
Catherine  died  in  1796. 

In  the  same  vault,  but  without  other  monuments  than 
brass  plates  in  the  wall,  are  buried  the  unhappy  Alexis 
and  his  wife. 

Alexis  Petrovitch,  son  of  Peter  the  Great  by  his  first 

1  Clarke. 

2  Tales  of  the  Tsarcvitch,  '  Chlor?  and  the  Little  Samoyedi  ;  also  historical 
and  moral  essays  collected  in    the   Bibliotheque  des   Grands-Dues  Atexantfre  tf 
Constantin. 


GRA  I'E.  OF  ALEXIS  PETRO  VITCH.  75 

wife,  Eudoxia  Lapoukyn,  was  born  in  1690.  It  seemed 
as  if  nature  had  made  him  especially  antipathetic  to  his 
father.  He  loved  all  that  his  father  hated — the  old 
religion,  the  old  customs,  the  old  capital ;  he  was  furious 
at  his  father's  reforms,  and  he  declared  his  intention  of 
abandoning  St.  Petersburg  as  soon  as  his  father  was  dead. 

"  Peter  was  active,  curious,  and  energetic.  Alexis  was  contem- 
plative and  reflective.  He  was  not  without  intellectual  ability,  but  he 
liked  a  quiet  life.  He  preferred  reading  and  thinking.  At  the  age 
when  Peter  was  making  fireworks,  building  boats,  and  exercising  his 
comrades  in  mimic  war,  Alexis  was  pondering  over  the  '  Divine 
Mamma,'  reading  the  'Wonders  of  God,'  reflecting  on  Thomas  a 
Kempis's  '  Imitation  of  Christ.'  and  making  excerpts  from  Baronius. 
While  it  sometimes  seemed  as  if  Peter  was  born  too  soon  for  the  age, 
Alexis  was  born  too  late." — Eugene  Schuyler. 

The  incapacity  shown  by  Alexis  soon  led  his  father  to 
wish  to  exclude  him  from  the  throne.  His  education  was 
disgracefully  neglected,  and  Mentchikoff  purposely  left 
him  to  the  companionship  of  the  most  ordinary  debau- 
chees, especially  priests  of  the  lowest  class,  by  whom  he 
was  constantly  surrounded.  He  treated  his  wife, 
Charlotte  Christina  Sophia  of  Brunswick  (married  1711), 
with  the  utmost  neglect,  for  the  sake  of  a  Finnish  mistress 
named  Euphrosyne.  His  children  were  Natalia,  born 
1714,  and  Peter  II.,  born  1715.  Soon  after  the  birth  of 
the  latter,  Charlotte  died,  welcoming  her  end  with  joy, 
and  consoled  on  her  deathbed  by  her  father-in-law,  who 
promised  to  take  care  of  her  children  and  servants. 
Alexis  constantly  inveighed  against  his  father,  and,  in 
1716,  renounced  his  right  of  succession  in  favor  of  Peter's 
son  by  Catherine  I.,  and  escaped  into  Austria  and  thence 
to  Naples.  Being  persuaded  to  return  by  promises  of 
forgiveness,  he  again  formally  renounced  the  crown  at 
Moscow,  but,  being  regarded  by  his  father  as  a  traitor, 
was  carried  to  St.  Petersburg,  and,  after  being  tried  there 
for  rebellion,  was  condemned  to  death  ;  though  whether 
his  end  was  actually  caused  by  convulsions  from  fear,  by 
the  knout,  or  by  the  ax  of  the  executioner,  has  been 
frequently  disputed. 

"  The  trial  was  begun  on  June  25,  and  continued  to  July  6,  when 
the  supreme  court,  with  unanimous  consent,  passed  sentence  of  death 
upon  the  prince,  but  left  the  manner  of  it  to  his  Majesty's  determina- 


7 6  STUDIES  IN  R  ussiA . 

tion.  The  prince  was  brought  before  the  court,  his  sentence  was  read 
to  him,  and  he  was  reconveyed  to  the  fortress.  On  the  next  day  his 
Majesty,  attended  by  all  the  senators  and  bishops,  with  several  others 
of  high  rank,  went  to  the  fort,  and  entered  the  apartments  where  the 
Tsarevitch  was  kept  prisoner.  Some  little  time  thereafter,  Marshal 
Weyde  came  out  and  ordered  me  to  go  to  Mr.  Bear's  the  druggist, 
whose  shop  was  hard-by,  and  tell  him  to  make  the  potion  strong 
which  he  had  bespoke,  as  the  prince  was  then  very  ill.  When  I 
delivered  this  message  to  Mr.  Bear  he  turned  quite  pale,  and  fell  a 
shaking  and  trembling,  and  appeared  in  the  utmost  confusion,  which 
surprised  me  so  much,  that  I  asked  him  what  was  the  matter  with  him, 
but  he  was  unable  to  return  me  any  answer.  In  the  meantime  the 
Marshal  himself  came  in.  much  in  the  same  condition  as  the  druggist, 
saying,  he  ought  to  have  been  more  expeditious,  as  the  prince  was 
very  ill  of  an  apoplectic  fit ;  upon  this  the  druggist  delivered  him  a 
silver  cup  with  a  cover,  which  the  Marshal  himself  carried  into  the 
prince's  apartment,  staggering  all  the  way  as  he  went  like  one  drunk. 
About  an  hour  after,  the  Tsar,  with  all  his  attendants,  withdrew,  with 
very  dismal  countenances,  and  when  they  went,  the  Marshal  ordered  me 
to  attend  at  the  prince's  apartment,  and  in  case  of  any  alteration  to 
inform  him  immediately  thereof.  There  were  at  that  time  two  physi- 
cians and  two  surgeons  in  waiting,  with  whom,  and  the  officers  on 
guard.  I  dined  on  what  had  been  dressed  for  the  prince's  dinner.  The 
physicians  were  called  in  immediately  after  to  attend  on  the  prince, 
who  was  struggling  out  of  one  convulsion  into  another,  and,  after  great 
agony,  expired  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  I  went  directly  to 
inform  the  Marshal,  and  he  went  that  moment  to  acquaint  his  Majesty, 
who  ordered  the  corpse  to  be  emboweled,  after  which  it  was  laid  in  a 
coffin,  covered  with  black  velvet,  and  a  pall  of  rich  gold  tissue  spread 
over  it  ;  it  was  then  carried  out  of  the  fort  to  the  church  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  where  the  corpse  lay  in  state  till  ihe  I  ith  in  the  evening,  when 
it  was  carried  back  to  the  fort,  and  deposited  in  the  royal  burying 
vault,  next  to  the  coffin  of  the  princess,  his  late  consort,  on  which 
occasion  the  Tsar  and  Tsarina,  and  the  chief  of  the  nobility,  followed 
in  procession.  Various  were  the  reports  that  were  spread  concerning 
his  death  ;  it  was  given  out  publicly,  that  on  hearing  his  sentence  of 
death  pronounced,  the  dread  thereof  threw  him  into  an  apoplectic  lit  of 
which  he  died:  very  few  believed  that  he  died  a  natural  death,  but  it 
was  dangerous  for  people  to  speak  as  they  thought.  The  ministers  of 
the  Emperor,  and  the  States  of  Holland  were  forbid  the  Court  for 
speaking  their  minds  too  freely  on  this  occasion,  and,  upon  complaint 
against  them,  were  both  recalled." — Bruce 's  "  Memoirs,"  pp.  185-187. 

The  group  of  tombs  on  the  other  side  of  the  altar, 
opposite  the  picture  of  the  great  apostle,  are  those  of  the 
Emperor  Paul  with  his  sons  and  daughters-in-law.  The 
line  of  sarcophagi  at  the  back  begins  nearest  to  the  altar 
with  that  of  the  eccentric  Paul  (1796-1801),  son  of  the 
murdered  Peter  III.  and  Catherine  II.,  himself  murdered, 
as  we  shall  see,  in  the  Michael  Palace.  Next  comes  his 


TOMB  OF  ALEXANDER  I.  77 

widow,  the  beneficent  Marie  Feodorovna,  who  did  much 
for  the  encouragement  of  literature  in  Russia,  and  founded 
many  of  its  finest  charitable  institutions.  Her  tomb  is 
succeeded  by  those  of  her  eldest  son,  the  great  Alexander 
/.,  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Alexievna. 

Alexander,  born  1777,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Paul  Petro- 
vitch  and  Marie  Feodorovna  of  Wiirtemberg.  He  was 
educated,  by  the  care  of  his  grandmother  the  Empress 
Catherine,  under  Nicholas  Soltikoff.  At  15  he  was 
married  to  Princess  Louisa  of  Baden  (of  14),  who  took 
the  name  of  Elizabeth  Alexievna  on  her  Greek  baptism. 
It  is  believed  that  he  knew  of  the  conspiracy  to  murder 
his  father,  but  was  persuaded  that  it  was  necessary  to 
save  his  own  life  and  that  of  his  mother  and  brothers. 
Russia  made  great  progress  in  civilization  in  his  reign, 
which  added  Finland  to  the  empire  and  welcomed  the 
efforts  of  the  Bible  Society  in  Russia.  Alexander  did  all 
he  could  to  avoid  war  with  Napoleon,  whose  personal 
charm  captivated  him  whenever  they  met.  After  the 
retreat  from  Moscow  he  appeared  as  the  peace-maker  of 
Europe,  but  entered  France  for  the  second  time  as  con- 
queror, after  Waterloo.  He  died  at  Taganrog,  December 
i,  1825,  aged  48,  and  his  wife  followed  him  in  the  ensuing 
May. 

"  Toutes  ses  paroles,  toutes  ses  manieres,  respiraient  la  bonte  du 
coeur,  le  besoin  de  se  faire  aimer,  et  1'amour  le  plus  vrai  de  I'humanite. 
Sans  faste  ou  prevention,  il  accoutuma  lui-meme  la  noblesse  a  des  hab- 
itudes simples,  comme  il  lui  donnait  1'exemplede  1'elegance  des  mceurs 
et  de  1'amabilite  des  manieres." 

"  Le  traite  conclu  entre  les  empereurs  de  Russie  et  d'Autriche  et  le 
roi  de  Prusse,  et  que  le  nom  de  Sainte- Alliance  a  rendu  si  fameux, 
porte  evidemment  lempreinte  des  idees  religieuses  d'Alexandre.  Son 
preambule  est  digne  des  decrets  d'un  concile  ;  et  c'est  une  chose  sin- 
guliere  que  ce  traite  politico-theologique  conclu  par  trois  souverains, 
tous  d'une  religion  differente.  Le  ton  de  componction  qui  y  regne 
passa  bientot  dans  la  vie  et  dans  les  actes  de  1'autocrate,  et  fut  entre- 
tenu  en  lui  par  les  predications  de  Mme.  de  Kriidner,  qu  il  ecoutait 
alors  avec  complaisance,  bien  qu'il  la  traitat  plus  tard  avec  severite. 
Rien  ne  caracterise  mieux  1'etat  moral  de  1'autocrate  a  cette  epoque 
qu'un  aveu  qu'il  fit  a  M.  Empeytaz,  ministre  protestant  et  compagnon 
de  voyage  de  la  nouvelle  prophetesse.  '  Dans  le  conseil '  lui  dit-il. 
'  toutes  les  fois  que  ses  ministres  etaient  partages  d'opinion,  et  qu'il 
etait  difficile  de  les  mettre  d 'accord,  il  priait  Dieu,  et  avait  presque  tou- 
jours  la  satisfaction  de  voirserapproclier  les  opinions  en  proportion  de 
la  ferveur  qu'il  apportait  a  sapriere.'  " — Nouvelle  Biographic  Ge'ne'rale. 


7  8  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

The  sarcophagi  of  the  ultra-conservative  Nicholas 
(1796-1855,  third  son  of  Paul) — emperor  at  the  time  of 
the  Crimean  War,  who  did  all  he  could  to  isolate  Russia 
— and  his  wife  Alexandra,  are  in  front  of  those  of  his 
parents.  The  third  tomb  in  the  front  line  is  that  of 
Anna  Petrovna,  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  who  was 
brought  up  in  expectation  of  two  thrones — Russia  and 
Sweden — and  disappointed  of  both.  Excluded  from  the 
council  of  regency  of  Mentchikoff  after  her  mother's 
death,  she  retired  with  her  husband,  the  Duke  of  Hoi- 
stein,  to  Kiel,  and  died  there  aged  22,  in  1728. 

The  tomb  at  the  entrance  of  the  north  aisle,  of  the 
cruel  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  the  second  brother  of 
Alexander,  who  resigned  his  claims  to  the  throne,  is  dis- 
tinguished by  the  huge  keys  of  the  Polish  fortresses  of 
Modlin  and  Zamoscz,  which  lie  upon  it.  In  the  same 
aisle  are  the  sarcophagi  of  Alexander  II.  (1855-1881) — 
the  "Tsar  liberator,"  by  whom  22,000,000  serfs  were  set 
free,  but  who  paid  for  his  generous  impulse  with  his  life 
— of  his  wife  Marie  Alexandrovna  of  Hesse,  and  their 
eldest  son,  the  Tsarevitch,  who  died  at  Nice.  Of  few 
Russian  sovereigns  are  so  many  amiable  traits  recorded 
as  of  Alexander  II. 

A  young  poet  had  written  a  most  scurrilous  poem,  in 
which  he  had  described  and  libeled  not  only  the  Empress, 
but  also  the  Grand  Dukes  and  Duchesses.  Some  one,  the 
censor  of  the  press,  went  and  told  the  Empress.  "  The 
man  had  better  be  sent  off  to  Siberia  at  once,"  he  said  ; 
"  it  is  not  a  case  for  delay." 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  the  Empress  ;  "  wait  a  little,  but  tell 
the  man  I  desire  to  see  him  at  six  o'clock  to-morrow 
evening." 

When  the  poor  man  was  told  this,  he  felt  as  if  his  last 
hour  had  come,  and  that  the  Emperor  must  intend  him- 
self to  pronounce  a  sentence  of  eternal  exile.  He  went 
to  the  palace,  and  was  shown  through  all  the  grand  state- 
rooms, one  after  another,  without  seeing  any  one,  till  at 
last  he  arrived  at  a  small,  commonplace  room  at  the  end 
of  them  all,  where  there  was  a  single  table  with  a  lamp 
upon  it,  and  here  he  saw  the  Empress,  the  Emperor,  and 
all  the  Grand  Dukes  and  Duchesses  whom  he  had  men- 
tioned in  his  poem. 


TOMB  OF  ALEXANDER  II.  79 

"  How  do  you  do,  sir  ?  "  said  the  Emperor.  "  I  hear 
you  have  written  a  most  beautiful  poem,  and  I  have  sent 
for  you  that  you  may  read  it  aloud  to  us  yourself,  and  I 
have  invited  all  the  Grand  Dukes  and  Duchesses  to  come 
that  they  may  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  you." 

Then  the  poor  man  prostrated  himself  at  the  Emper- 
or's feet.  "  Send  me  to  Siberia,  sire,"  he  said  ;  "  force 
me  to  become  a  soldier  ;  only*  do  not  compel  me  to  read 
that  poem." 

"  Oh,  sir,  you  are  cruel  to  refuse  me  the  pleasure,  but  you 
will  not  be  so  ungallant  as  to  refuse  the  Empress  the  pleas- 
ure of  hearing  your  verses,  and  she  will  ask  you  herself." 

And  the  Empress  asked  him. 

When  he  had  finished,  she  said,  "  I  do  not  think  he 
will  write  any  more  verses  about  us  again.  He  need  not 
go  to  Siberia  just  yet." 

A  nobleman  had  entered  into  a  conspiracy  against  the 
Emperor,  and  was  sentenced  to  Siberia.  His  eyes  were 
bandaged,  and  he  was  put  into  a  dark  carriage,  and  for 
seven  days  and  nights  they  traveled  on  and  on,  only  stop- 
ping to  take  food.  At  last  he  felt  that  he  must  have 
reached  Siberia,  and,  in  the  utmost  anguish,  he  perceived 
that  the  carriage  stopped,  and  the  bandage  was  taken  off 
his  eyes,  and  ...  he  was  in  his  own  home  !  He  had  been 
driven  round  and  round  St.  Petersburg  the  whole  time  : 
but  the  fright  quite  cured  him. 

Alexander  II.,  the  liberator  of  the  serfs,  the  man  who 
was  able  by  his  individual  act  to  benefit  a  greater  num- 
ber of  the  human  race  than  any  one  who  ever  lived,  met 
with  a  more  frightful  end  than  any  of  his  predecessors, 
but  the  sympathy  and  grief  of  Christendom  followed  him 
to  the  grave  in  which  he  lies  with  the  hair  of  his  morgan- 
atic wife,  Princess  Dolgorouky,1  cut  off  after  his  death, 

i  Dolgorouky  (the  long-armed)  was  originally  a  nick-name.  Such  designations 
were  at  one  period  very  common  in  Russia,  and  have  become  the  origin  of  many  of 
its  family  names.  The  terminations  in  "  off  "  and  "  eff  "  denote  descent  or  deriva- 
tion. Only  those  families  which  are  descended  from  some  of  the  ancient  princes 
have  retained  the  names  of  their  former  possessions. 

The  first  sovereign  of  the  house  of  Romanoff,  Michael  Feodorovitch,  married  as 
his  first  wife  (Sept.  18,  1024)  Princess  Marie  Vladimirovna  Dolgorouky,  who  died 
childless  in  1625  (the  house  of  Romanoff  descending  from  his  second  marriage,  with 
Eudoxia  Strechneff).  The  house  of  Dolgorouky  was  for  the  second  time  on  the 
point  of  making  a  royal  marriage  in  1729,  when  Peter  II.  was  affianced  to  Cather- 
ine, daughter  of  Prince  Alexis  Gregorievitch  Dolgorouky,  but  died  before  the  day 
fixed  for  the  ceremony.  The  mistress,  afterward  the  morganatic  wife  of  Alexan- 
der II.  was  Catherine,  daughter  of  Prince  Michael  Dolgourouky. 


8o  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

upon  his  breast.  His  sarcophagus  is  covered  with  a  pall, 
inscribed  simply  "  His  Imperial  Majesty  Alexander  II." 

In  a  separate  building  within  the  fortress  is  preserved 
the  famous  boat  known  as  "  The  Little  Grandsire  "  or 
"the  Father  of  the  Russian  Fleet."  It  is  sometimes  said 
to  have  been  sent  by  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England  to 
Ivan  the  Terrible,  but  was  in  reality  built  during  the 
reign  of  Alexis  by  a  Dutchman  named  Kerstem  Brandt. 
Peter  the  Great  first  saw  it  at  the  village  of  Ismaelovo  in 
1691,  and  on  inquiring  of  Timmerman,  his  instructor  in 
navigation,  why  it  was  built  in  such  a  different  way  from 
other  boats,  was  told  that  it  was  made  to  sail  against 
the  wind.  Struck  by  this,  he  desired  Brandt  to  be  sent 
for,  and,  under  his  direction,  practiced  the  boat  upon  the 
Yausa.  From  the  number  of  ships  which  were  afterward 
built  with  the  same  intention,  the  boat  can  be  regarded 
as  the  grandsire  of  the  Russian  navy.  It  is  thirty  feet 
long,  eight  feet  broad,  and  can  spread  three  sails.  In  the 
stern  is  an  image  carved  in  wood,  representing  a  Russian 
pope  stretching  out  his  arm  over  the  sea  in  blessing,  that 
it  may  be  kind  to  the  Russian  fleet,  signified  by  some 
rudely-carved  vessels  leaving  a  harbor.  The  "  Grand- 
sire  "  was  deposited  in  the  fortress  by  the  Emperor  in 
person,  all  the  men-of-war  in  the  Neva  saluting  it.  In 
1870,  on  the  celebration  of  the  two-hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  Peter's  birth,  it  was  one  of  the  chief  objects  of 
interest  in  the  great  parade  at  St.  Petersburg. 

Except  as  a  national  monument,  the  Fortress  of  St. 
Petersburg  is  of  little  value. 

"The  building  of  St.  Petersburg  seems  almost  like  a  freak  .... 
The  fortress,  on  which  so  much  money  and  so  much  life  were  spent, 
then,  as  now,  protected  nothing.  Its  guns  could  never  reach  the  enemy, 
unless  the  town  had  been  previously  taken.  It  now  protects  nothing 
but  the  mint  and  the  cathedral  containing  the  imperial  tombs.  During 
the  reign  of  Peter's  successors,  its  walls  were  used  as  a  suitable  back- 
ground for  fireworks  and  illuminations,  and  its  casemates  have  always 
been  found  convenient  for  the  reception  of  political  prisoners." — 
Schuyler  s  "  Peter  the  Great" 

"  Against  an  attack  from  the  side  of  the  sea  St.  Petersburg  has  no 
other  defense  than  Cronstadt.  The  Russian  fleet  could  not  hold  out 
against  the  combined  fleets  of  England,  Denmark,  and  Sweden.  The 
Russian  ships,  after  the  loss  of  a  battle,  would  be  compelled  to  retire 
behind  Cronstadt.  Should  Cronstadt  then  yield,  either  to  the  gold  or 
to  the  artillery  of  the  enemy,  the  Russian  garrison  would  be  forced  to 


COTTAGE  OF  PETE  £  THE  GREAT.  8 1 

seek  shelter  in  the  citadel,  the  English  men-of-war  would  enter  the 
Neva,  and  in  the  cannonade  that  would  probably  ensue  the  finest  part 
of  the  capital  might  be  laid  in  ashes  by  the  fire  of  its  own  citadel. 
The  mortification  of  such  a  catastrophe  would  drive  the  government 
to  realize  the  idea  frequently  entertained,  of  returning  to  the  ancient 
capital ;  Petersburg  would  then  shrink  into  a  mere  maritime  city  of 
trade,  and  Vassili  Ostrof  would  perhaps  be  all  that  would  remain  of 
it."— AW. 

Close  to  the  northern  entrance  of  the  bridge  near  the 
fortress  is  a  little  church — the  oldest  in  St.  Petersburg, 
where  Peter  the  Great  used  to  pray — containing  various 
relics  of  him,  including  a  chandelier  turned  by  his  own 
hand. 

Hard  by  in  a  tiny  garden,  a  building  incases  the  Cot- 
tage of  Peter  the  Great,  the  original  Palace  of  St.  Peters- 
burg. Here  another  of  his  boats  is  preserved.  Here 
also  is  the  tremendous  staff  of  Peter,  the  only  relic  he 
retained  of  the  ancient  costume  and  accompaniments  of 
the  Tsars,  when  he  astonished  the  Russians,  accustomed 
to  a  long  chain  of  barbaric  costumes  in  their  sovereigns, 
by  what  was  even  more  strange  to  them,  the  full  uniform 
of  a  European  soldier. 

Part  of  the  house  has  always  been  used  as  a  chapel 
since  Peter's  death  :  which  was  strange  in  the  dwelling  of 
one  whose  private  life  was  little  better  than  that  of  a  sav- 
age, whose  chief  amusement  was  getting  drunk  ;  who 
forced  his  first  wife  into  a  convent  that  he  might  marry 
his  Finnish  mistress  ;  who  beguiled  his  eldest  son  into 
his  power  by  promises  which  he  broke  as  soon  as  he  had 
secured  him,  and  then  watched  him  tortured  to  death 
under  the  knout  ;  finally,  who  had  no  hesitation  in  sen- 
tencing those  who  differed  from  him  to  be  impaled, 
broken  on  .the  wheel,  or  roasted  alive  !  His  more  respec- 
table associates  were  mechanicians,  manufacturers,  arti- 
sans, and  merchants,  and  as  Bishop  Burnet  said,  he 
seemed  "  designed  by  nature  to  be  a  ship-carpenter 
rather  than  a  great  Prince."  The  Electress  Sophia,  in 
1697,  describing  her  interview  with  the  Tsar,  affirmed 
that  "  he  knew  excellently  well  fourteen  trades."  His 
going  to  the  terrible  extreme  of  defacing  the  "  image  of 
God  "  by  the  abolition  of  beards  caused  a  large  section 
of  the  people  to  regard  him  as  Antichrist  even  in  his  life- 
time. The  peasantry  as  well  as  the  clergy  were  opposed 


82  STUDIES  IN"  RUSSIA. 

to  him  ;  only  the  nobles  espoused  the  cause  of  progress. 
Yet,  in  his  wars,  the  motto  of  Peter  was  "  For  the  Faith 
and  the  Faithful,"  and  his  touching  last  words,  "  My 
Lord,  I  am  dying  :  help  Thou  my  unbelief,"  deserve  to 
be  remembered. 

In  the  house  of  Peter  is  a  famous  icon,  which  has  been 
so  often  carried  in  battle,  against  the  Tartars,  the  Poles, 
and  the  French  ;  by  Demetrius,  by  Peter,  by  Suvarof  and 
by  Kutusof.  It  is  a  sad-looking  head  of  the  Saviour, 
before  which  people  are  constantly  lighting  Ifttle  tapers, 
and  crossing  and  prostrating  themselves,  with  that 
reverent  and  striking  simplicity  which  is  always  so 
remarkable  in  Russia  and  which  takes  no  notice  of 
spectators. 


Many  mornings  in  St.  Petersburg  may  be  pleasantly 
spent  at  the  Hermitage,  which  is  supposed  to  be  freely 
opened  to  the  public,  though  plenty  of  fees  are  really 
required.  Situated  just  beyond  the  Winter  Palace,  this 
is,  externally,  one  of  the  handsomest  buildings  in  the 
capital,  though,  with  characteristic  want  of  invention,  its 
huge  caryatides  all  exactly  repeat  each  other.  The 
Hermitage  was  no  solitude,  but  a  magnificent  palace,  the 
original  hermit  being  the  Empress  Catherine  II. ,  the 
nymphs  the  princesses  and  countesses  of  her  Court.1 
Here  she  inculcated  the  utmost  ease  and  absence  of 
etiquette  ;  one  of  her  rules,  most  in  contrast  to  those  of 
existing  sovereigns,!being — "Asseyez-vousou  vous  voulez, 
et  quand  il  vous  plaira?  sans  qu'on  le  repete  mille  fois." 

"  We  possess  many  an  alluring  picture  by  Storch,  by  Dupre  de  St. 
Maure  and  by  others,  who  took  a  part  in  those  evenings,  of  the  per- 
fect freedom  and  equality  that  reigned  here,  in  accordance  with  the 
ukases  suspended  in  all  the  apartments  of  the  palace.  Musicians  dis- 
played their  talents,  artistes  their  works,  and  men  of  wit  their  opinions, 
and  the  pictures  which  we  see  elsewhere  only  as  allegorical  representa- 
tions of  art  and  science-loving  princes  were  here  every  day  realized. 
On  the  roof  of  the  building,  the  mighty  Semiramis  of  the  North  had 
created  a  garden  with  flowers,  shrubs,  and  lofty  trees,  heated  in  winter 
by  subterraneous  vaults,  and  illuminated  in  summer  ;  and  many  might 
here  really  esteem  their  abode  more  splendid  than  the  Grecian 
Olympus. ' ' — Kohl. 

On  the  ground  floor  is  the  famous  collection  of  Scyth- 

i  Kohl. 


THE  HERMITAGE.  83 

ian  antiquities  from  the  south  of  Russia,  especially  from 
the  Crimea.  In  this  collection  are  two  vases  of  incom- 
parable value — the  silver  vase  of  Nicopol  and  the  golden 
vase  of  Kertch. 

"  On  les  fait  remonter  au  quatrieme  siecle  avant  not  re  ere,  c'est-a- 
dire  presque  a  1'epoque  ou  Herodote  a  compose  ses  recits,  dont  ils 
seraient  le  vivant  commentaire.  Les  Scythes  du  vase  d'argent  avec 
leurs  longs  cheveux,  leurs  longues  barbes,  leurs  grands  traits,  leur 
tunique  et  leurs  braies,  reproduisent  assez  bien  la  physionomie,  la 
stature  et  le  costume  des  habitants  actuels  des  memes  regions  ;  on  les 
voit  occupes  a  dompter,  a  entraver  leurs  chevaux  par  des  precedes  qui 
encore  aujourd  hui  s'emploient  dans  ces  campagnes.  Les  Scythes  du 
vase  d'orf  avec  leurs  bonnets  pointus,  leurs  vetements  brodes  et  piques 
dansle  gout  asiatique,  leurs  arcs  de  forme  etrange,  ont  cependant  un 
type  aryen  tres-prononce.  Les  uns  pourraient  bien  etre  les  Scythes 
laboureurs  d'Herodote,  peut-etre  les  ancetres  des  Slaves  agriculteurs 
du  Dnieper  ;  les  autres,  les  Scythes  royaux,  adonnes  a  une  vie  nomade 
et  toute  guerriere. " — Rambaud,  "Hist,  de  la  Rustic* 

The  upper  galleries  are  very  handsome,  adorned  with 
hideous  malachite,  but  with  splendid  vases  of  violet  jasper. 
In  the  Italian  school  Guido  Reni  is  nobly  represented  in 
the  picture  of  St.  Joseph  with  the  Infant  Saviour.  Sebas- 
tian del  Piombo  has  a  noble  portrait  of  Cardinal  Pole. 
Of  Leonardo  da  Vinci  there  is  a  Madonna  and  Child, 
executed  at  Rome  in  1513,  slightly  altered  from  the  pic- 
ture at  Warwick. 

In  the  Spanish  school  is  Murillo's  Assumption  of  the 
young  girlish  Virgin,  who  is  literally  floating  upward  on 
her  cherub  wreath.  Of  Duini,  there  is  the  mysterious 
"  Columbine  ;  "  of  Morone,  the  graceful  and  lovely  Ju- 
dith, who  looks  as  if  she  had  only  stepped  by  accident 
upon  the  head  of  Holofernes.  In  the  Raffaelle  room  is 
the  circular  picture  known  as  "  La  Vierge  de  la  Maison 
d'Albe,"  in  the  best  and  most  delicate  manner  of  the 
master.  Here,  in  a  lovely  landscape,  the  kneeling  St. 
John  playfully  offers  a  cross  to  the  Infant  Saviour,  in  the 
lap  of  his  Mother,  who  is  wistfully  watching  the  prophetic 
play  of  the  children.  There  is  a  noble  portrait  by  Raf- 
faelle of  an  old  man  with  an  "  It  does  not  signify  "  look. 
And  on  a  screen  are  the  two  most  celebrated  miniatures 
in  the  world,  both  by  Raffaelle — the  famous  Madonna 
from  the  Conestabili  Staffa  Palace  at  Perugia  in  its  origi- 
nal frame,  wisely  unaltered  anol  unmended  ;  and  the  St, 


84  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

George,  in  which  the  dragon  is  killed  by  a  spear  only,  and 
the  princess  is  introduced  upon  her  knees.  This  picture, 
which  was  painted  as  early  as  1506,  long  hung  with  an 
ever-burning  lamp  before  a  great  portrait  of  the  Emperor 
Alexander  I.  There  is  an  immense  collection  of  the 
works  of  Teniers  and  other  Dutch  masters,  amongst 
which  the  finest  are  Paul  Potter's  "  Watch-dog  "  and  his 
famous  cow,  seen  in  the  center  of  a  group  of  cattle  under 
some  oak  trees  before  an  old  cottage.  Rembrandt's 
charming  portrait  of  his  mother  will  remain  in  memory 
amongst  the  many  examples  of  that  master. 

"  On  the  whole,  there  are  more  Dutch  cottages  such  as  Ostade 
painted  than  there  are  Venetian  palaces  or  Roman  churches  ;  more 
North-German  cattle-pastures  than  southern  Alps  ;  more  unroasted 
and  roasted  game  than  roasted  martyrs  ;  more  hares  transfixed  by  the 
spit  of  the  cook  than  St.  Sebastians  by  the  arrows  of  the  heathen  ; 
more  dogs,  horses,  and  cows  than  priests,  prophets,  and  saintly  visions. 
So  numerous  are  the  productions  of  some  of  these  masters  here, 
that  separate  halls  are  devoted  to  them,  and  it  is  scarcely  con- 
ceivable how  enough  of  their  pictures  were  found  for  other  collec- 
tions."— Kohl. 

As  a  rule,  Dutch  pictures  will  be  found  to  be  more 
popular  with  Russians  than  Italian,  for  which  collectors 
in  Russia — lovers  of  bright  colors — will  seldom  give  large 
prices,  "because  they  have  too  much  shade." 

A  long  gallery  in  the  Hermitage  is  fitly  devoted  to  the 
memorials  of  Peter  the  Great — his  curious  wooden  char- 
iot ;  his  turning-lathes  and  telescopes  ;  his  throne,  with 
his  effigy,  seated  in  the  (full  of  holes)  dress  he  wore  ;  a 
mask  from  his  face,  with  real  black  hair  and  mustache, 
which  was  given  by  him  to  Cardinal  Valenti,  and  found 
at  Torlonia's  at  Rome  ;  and  a  little  statuette  of  his 
housekeeper. 

Of  the  adjoining  gallery  of  relics,  one's  memory  dwells 
on  a  chaos  of  emeralds  and  diamonds — in  watches,  chate- 
laines, boxes,  chains,  vases,  every  decoration  of  boudoir 
and  toilet.  A  snuff-box,  with  miniatures  of  Marie  Antoi- 
nette and  her  children,  given  by  Louis  XVI.  to  the  faith- 
ful Clery  upon  the  scaffold,  is  deeply  interesting  ;  a  wig 
of  spun  silver  worn  by  Naryskin,  Grand  Marshal  of  the 
Court,  is  curious  ;  and  the  strange  timepiece  of  Prince 
Potemkin,  with  the  peacock  which  spreads  its  tail,  the 


THE  HERMITAGE.  £5 

cock  which  crows,  the  owl  which  blinks  its  eyes,  and  the 
grasshopper  which  eats  a  mushroom — but  all  rather  out 
of  order  now.  There  is  also  a  magnificent  diamond 
aigret,  with  many  other  relics  of  Potemkin  (pronounced 
Patiomkin),  the  most  famous  and  extravagant  of  the 
favorites  of  Catherine  II. — priceless  jewels,  even  volumes 
of  banknotes  bound  together  as  curiosities. 

The  luxurious  splendor  of  the  Russian  aristocracy 
which  this  gallery  exemplifies  was  first  introduced  by  Peter 
the  Great,  who,  while  he  liked  nothing  but  simplicity 
himself,  wished  his  courtiers  to  be  as  magnificent  as  pos- 
sible. The  Troubetskoi,  Sheremetieff,  Mentchikoff, 
enriched  by  the  Emperor,  flattered  him  by  the  splendor 
of  their  uniforms  and  the  gorgeousness  of  their  equip- 
ages. Many  of  the  great  families  ruined  themselves  that 
they  might  ingratiate  themselves  with  the  Emperor  by 
their  extravagance.  Prince  Ivan  Vassilievitch  Odoievski 
was  obliged  to  sell  palace,  villages,  serfs ;  nothing 
remained  to  him  but  some  servants  who  had  once  been 
his  musicians.  He  let  them  out  to  the  public,  and  lived 
upon  them  till  his  death.1 

The  Empress  Anne  liked  fine  clothes  so  much  that  the 
oldest  courtier,  with  white  hair,  would  appear  en  rose  tendre. 
But  the  Russian  court  reached  its  greatest  splendor  under 
Catherine  II. 

"  Men  and  women  seemed  to  have  challenged  one  another  who 
should  be  most  loaded  with  diamonds.  This  expression  is  not  exag- 
gerated ;  for  numbers  of  the  principal  people  of  fashion  were  almost 
covered  with  them  ;  their  buttons,  their  buckles,  the  scabbards  of 
their  swords,  their  epaulets,  consisted  of  diamonds  ;  and  many  per- 
sons even  wore  a  triple  cord  of  precious  stones  round  the  borders  of 
their  hats.  This  passion  for  jewels  even  descended  to  the  rank  of 
private  individuals,  who  are  fond  of  aping  the  great,  and  yet,  after 
all,  are  but  common  people  ;  in  this  class  of  persons  were  families 
who  possessed  as  many  diamonds  as  the  nobles.  The  wife  of  a  Rus- 
sian burgher  would  bring  her  husband  to  rain  only  that  she  might 
make  her  appearance  with  a  head-dress  or  girdle  of  pearls  or  precious 
stones  to  the  value  of  some  thousand  roubles." — Tookes  "Life  of 
Catherine  If." 

The  Court  of  Russia  still  keeps  up  quite  a  traffic  in 
decorations,  which  are  given  to  the  mercantile  classes  in 
return  for  a  certain  amount  of  subscriptions  to  charities, 

i  See  Victor  Tissot,  Russes  et  Allemands. 


86  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

and  are  regularly  bargained  for.     All  officers  have  dec- 
orations of  some  kind. 

On  the  quay  beyond  the  Hermitage  are  some  of  the 
handsomest  houses  in  the  town,  of  vast  dimensions. 

"  A  fully-appointed  house  of  the  first-class  in  Russia — without 
mentioning  the  numerous  resident  relations,  old  aunts,  cousins, 
adopted  children,  etc.  ;  without  mentioning  the  educational  staff,  the 
German,  French,  and  Russian  masters,  tutors  and  governesses,  the 
family  physician,  companions  and  others,  who,  as  majorum  gentium, 
must  of  course  be  excluded — has  so  .astounding  a  number  of  serving- 
folk  of  one  kind  or  another,  that  the  like  is  to  be  found  in  no  other 
country  in  the  world.  The  following  may  be  named  as  never  wanting 
in  the  list :  the  superintendent  of  accounts,  the  secretary,  the  dvorezki 
or  maitre  d'hotel,  the  valets  of  the  lord,  the  valets  of  the  lady,  the 
dyd-tka  or  overseer  of  the  children,  the  footman,  the  buffets  he  k  or 
butler  and  his  adjuncts,  the  table-decker,  the  head  groom,  the  coach- 
man and  postilions  of  the  lord,  the  coachman  and  postilions  of  the 
lady,  the  attendants  on  the  sons  of  the  house  and  their  tutors,  the 
porters,  the  head  cook  and  his  assistant,  the  baker  and  the  confectioner, 
the  whole  body  of  mushiks  or  servants,  minimarum  gentium,  the 
stove-heater,  kvass-brewer,  the  waiting-maids  and  wardrobe-keeper  of 
the  lady,  the  waiting-maids  of  the  grown-up  daughters  and  their  gov- 
ernesses, the  nurses  in  and  past  service  and  their  under-nurses,1  etc., 
and,  when  a  private  band  is  maintained,  the  Russian  Kapellmeister 
and  the  musicians." — Kohl. 

Facing  the  bridge  is  the  vast  open  space  called  Tsar- 
inskoi  Lug,  or  the  Field  of  the  Tsars,  a  name  which  has 
been  corrupted  into  Champ  de  Mars.  It  is  admirably 
fitted  for  reviews. 

"  Pe'tersbourg  est  1'etat-major  d'une  armee  et  non  la  capitale  d'une 
nation.  Toute  magnifique  qu'est  cette  ville  militaire,  elle  parait  nue 
a  1  ceil  d'un  homme  de  1  Occident. " — M.  de  Custine. 

Here  is  the  Monument  of  Pouchkine,  the  Byron  of 
Russia,  and  still  the  most  celebrated  of  native  poets  :  a 
Russian  Othello,  who,  jealous  of  his  beautiful  wife  and 
exasperated  by  false  reports,  challenged  his  innocent 
brother-in-law,  M.  d'Antes,  and,  forcing  him  to  fight 
against  his  will,  was  killed  by  him.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
say  that  the  fact  of  a  Russian  being  killed  by  a  French- 
man enlisted  the  sympathy  of  every  one  on  the  side  of 
the  dead  ;  justice  went  for  nothing. 

Along  one  side  of  the  square  stretches  the  Summer 

i  An  English  nurse  in  such  a.n  establishment  as  this  has  no  difficulty  in  obtain- 
ing ye/,  a  year  wages, 


THE  SUMMER  GARDEN,  87 

Garden,  laid  out  in  lawns  and  avenues,  and  adorned  with 
classic  statues,  which,  as  well  as  all  the  tenderer  trees, 
are  boxed  up  in  winter.  Toward  the  river  is  a  celebrated 
railing  of  wrought  iron  with  garlands  and  arabesques.  A 
low  house  near  this,  ornamented  with  bas-reliefs  painted 
yellow,  was  once  used  by  Peter  the  Great.  Near  the 
entrance  of  the  garden  on  this  side,  a  Chapel  on  the  quay, 
erected  by  the  offerings  of  the  people,  marks  the  spot 
where  Karakusof  attempted  to  murder  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander in  1866.  "  You  will  find  your  throne  a  heavy  bur- 
den," had  been  the  true  last  words  of  Nicholas,  addressed 
to  him  from  his  deathbed.  The  chapel  is  inscribed  in 
letters  of  gold,  "  Touch  not  mine  anointed."  The  Sum- 
mer Palace  at  the  upper  end  of  the  garden  was  built  by 
the  Empress  Anne  in  1711,  and,  after  her  death,  was 
inhabited  by  her  lover  Biren,  who  was  arrested  within  its 
walls  by  the  Regent  Anna  Leopoldovna  and  exiled  to 
Siberia.1  A  handsome  monument  commemorates  the 
fabulist  Kriloff  (1768-1844),  who  has  done  more  than  any 
one  else  to  expose  the  weakness  and  credulity  of  the 
different  classes  of  Russian  society.  His  fables  are  drawn 
directly  from  the  life  of  the  people,  and  show  the  absurd- 
ity of  the  estimation  in  which  Tchinn — rank  of  every 
kind — is  regarded  in  Russia.  The  blind  enthusiasm 
which  overlooks  the  most  essential  objects  is  held  up  to 
ridicule  in  a  "  St.  Petersburg  Tshinnovnik,"  who  relates  to 
his  friends  that  he  has  been  to  the  museum  and  seen  the 
most  wonderful  things — "  birds  of  the  most  astonishing 
colors,  beautiful  butterflies,  all  foreign  !  and  gnats,  flies, 
and  golden  beetles,  so  small  that  they  can  scarcely  be 
seen  with  the  naked  eye."  "  But  what  say  you  to  the 
elephant  and  the  mammoth  that  are  there  also,  my  friend  ? " 
"  Elephant  ?  Mammoth  ?  Ah,  the  devil  !  I  really  did 
not  notice  them."  In  another  fable  the  pig  and  the  cat 
swear  eternal  friendship,  and  conspire  against  the  mice. 
The  cat  gets  many  a  good  dinner  thereby,  but  the  mice 
eat  the  bacon  off  the  pig's  back. 

The  Russian  peasant  is  far  from  sparing,  in  his  critic- 
ism, the  rich  and  great,  from  whom  he  bears  so  much, 
though  conscious  of  its  injustice.  Thus,  in  one  of  Kril- 

i  The  regime  of  the  hated  Biren,  under  which  only  Germans  had   favor,  was 
called  Birenovchtchina,  as  that  of  the  Tartars  had  been  called  Tatarchtchina. 


88  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

off 's  fables,  a  nobleman  gives  a  box  on  the  ear  to  one  of 
his  serfs,  who  has  just  saved  his  life  from  the  attack  of  a 
bear,  and  cries  out,  "  Stupid  fool,  to  tear  the  bear's  skin 
so  carelessly  with  thy  clumsy  ax  !  Why  didst  thou  not 
stun  him  with  a  stone,  or  strangle  him  with  a  rope  ? 
What  is  his  skin  worth  to  me  now  at  the  furrier's  ?  The 
time  will  come,  varlet,  when  I  will  take  its  value  out  of 
thee." 

At  the  present  time,  the  Summer  Garden  is  chiefly 
given  up  to  nurses  and  children,  whom  their  parents  de- 
light to  dress  a  la  moujik.  Formerly  the  "  choosing  of 
the  brides  "  used  to  take  place  here  on  Whit-Monday. 
Girls,  dressed  in  their  best,  and  decorated  with  all  the 
jewels  and  ornaments  which  their  families  possessed  or 
could  borrow,  used  to  be  marshaled  in  lines,  with  their 
mothers  behind  them  ;  and,  in  front,  the  young  men, 
attended  by  their  fathers,  walked  up  and  down  examin- 
ing the  blushing  beauties.  If  any  sign  of  mutual  attrac- 
tion appeared,  the  parents  would  engage  in  a  conversa- 
tion, into  which  they  would  endeavor  to  include  their 
charges.  Eight  days  after,  interviews  took  place  at  the 
houses  of  the  parents,  in  which  negotiations  would  often 
lead  to  a  betrothal.  Lately  the  custom  has  flagged,  but 
young  men  and  maidens  still  resort  in  great  numbers  to 
the  Summer  Garden  on  Whit-Monday  to  see  and  to  be 
seen. 

"  Many  of  the  damsels  were  so  laden  with  gold  and  jewelry,  that 
scarcely  any  part  of  their  natural  beauty  remained  uncovered.  It  is 
even  said  that,  on  one  of  these  occasions,  a  Russian  mother,  not  know- 
ing what  she  should  add  to  her  daughter's  toilet,  contrived  to  make  a 
necklace  of  six  dozen  of  gilt  teaspoons,  a  girdle  of  an  equal  number  of 
table-spoons,  and  then  fastened  a  couple  of  punch-ladles  behind  in 
the  shape  of  a  cross." — Kohl. 

The  Summer  Garden  is  full  of  crows.  When  the  plot 
against  the  Emperor  Paul  was  ripe  for  action,  the  con- 
spirators were  so  intimidated  by  the  noise  of  these  crows 
that  their  design  was  nearly  frustrated.1 

On  the  site  of  the  old  Summer  Palace,  in  which  he  was 
born,  the  Emperor  Paul  (1797-1801)  built  the  Michael 
Palace,  employing  no  less  than  5,000  men  in  its  hurried 
construction.  Over  the  door  he  inscribed  in  golden  let- 

i  See  Toyneville's  Life  of  Alexander  /. 


THE  MICHAEL  PALACE.  89 

ters,  "  On  thy  house  will  the  Blessing  of  the  Lord  rest 
for  evermore  " — words  ill  fulfilled  in  the  murder  of  the 
Emperor  three  months  after  he  came  to  reside  here. 

"The  Russians  observe  that  the  number  of  letters  in  this  inscrip- 
tion corresponds  with  the  number  of  Paul's  years,  and  that  out  of 
them  an  anagram  may  be  composed  denoting  that  he  who  raised  the 
building  would  perish  by  a  violent  death.'' — Carr,  "Northern 
Summer" 

Endless  are  the  stories  which  are  told  of  Paul's  violence 
and  eccentricities.  One  of  his  fancies  was  that  every  one 
he  met,  wherever  he  met  them,  must  get  out  of  their  car- 
riages and  sledges,  stand  in  the  mud,  or  on  the  ice,  and 
make  him  a  bow.  This  was  of  course  considered  the 
greatest  bore  possible.  One  day  there  was  a  poor  danc- 
ing-master, who  was  going  to  give  some  lessons,  and  he 
had  nothing  but  a  pair  of  very  thin  shoes  on.  He  was 
dreadfully  afraid  of  encountering  the  Emperor,  for  it  was 
the  depth  of  winter,  and  the  ground  was  covered  with 
snow  and  ice  ;  and  he  thought  if  he  did  his  feet  would 
certainly  be  frost-bitten.  As  he  went  along,  he  saw  to 
his  horror  that  the  Emperor  was  coming  :  there  was  no 
way  of  turning  aside  ;  he  must  meet  him.  He  deter- 
mined at  once  that  the  only  way  was  to  pretend  not  to 
see  the  Emperor,  and  to  turn  the  other  way.  Paul  was 
not  to  be  outwitted.  He  stopped  at  once,  and  sent  one 
of  his  escort  to  see  why  the  dancing-master  had  not 
obeyed  his  orders.  The  poor  man  pleaded  not  having 
seen  the  Emperor,  and  implored  not  to  be  forced  to  get 
out,  on  account  of  his  thin  shoes.  The  Emperor  would 
not  hear  of  it.  "  Let  him  walk  round  and  round  my 
sledge,"  he  said,  "  and  see  if  that  will  amuse  him  ;  and 
since  he  is  too  blind  to  see  me,  tell  him  that  I  desire  for 
the  future  that  he  will  always,  at  all  times,  wear  green 
shades  over  his  eyes." 

"  Mungo  Park  was  hardly  exposed  to  greater  severity  of  exaction 
and  of  villainy  among  the  Moors  of  Africa  than  Englishmen  experi- 
enced in  Russia  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Paul,  and  particularly  in 
Petersburg.  They  were  compelled  to  wear  a  dress  regulated  by  the 
police  ;  and  as  every  officer  had  a  different  notion  of  the  mode  of  ob- 
serving these  regulations,  they  were  constantly  liable  to  be  interrupted 
in  the  streets  and  public  places  and  treated  with  impertinence .  The 
dress  consisted  of  a  cocked  hat,  or,  for  want  of  one,  a  round  hat  pinned 


90  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

up  with  three  corners  ;  a  long  cue  ;  a  single-breasted  coat  and  waist- 
coat ;  knee-buckles  instead  of  strings  ;  and  buckles  in  the  shoes. 
Orders  were  given  to  arrest  any  person  seen  in  pantaloons.  A  serv- 
ant was  taken  out  of  his  sledge,  and  caned  in  the  streets,  for  having 
too  thick  a  neckcloth  ;  and  if  it  had  been  too  thin  he  would  have  met 
with  a  similar  punishment.  After  every  precaution,  the  dress,  when 
put  on,  never  satisfied  ;  either  the  hat  was  not  straight  on  the  head, 
the  hair  too  short,  or  the  coat  was  not  cut  square  enough.  A  lady 
at  court  wore  her  hair  rather  lower  in  her  neck  than  was  consistent 
with  the  decree,  and  she  was  ordered  into  close  confinement,  to  be  fed 
on  bread  and  water.  A  gentleman's  hair  fell  a  little  over  his  forehead 
while  dancing  at  a  ball  ;  a  police  officer  attacked  him  with  great  rude- 
ness and  abuse,  and  told  him,  if  he  did  not  instantly  cut  his  hair,  he 
would  find  a  soldier  who  would  shave  his  head,  as  criminals  are 
punished. 

"  The  sledge  of  Count  Razumovsky  was,  by  the  Emperor's  orders, 
broken  into  small  pieces,  while  he  stood  by  and  directed  the  work. 
The  horses  had  been  found  with  it  in  the  streets  without  their  driver. 
It  happened  to  be  of  a  blue  color,  and  the  Count's  servants  wore  red 
liveries,  upon  which  a  ukase  was  immediately  published,  prohibiting 
throughout  the  Empire  of  All  the  Russias  the  use  of  blue  colors  in 
ornamenting  sledges,  and  red  liveries. 

"  Coming  down  the  street  called  the  Perspective,  the  Emperor  per- 
ceived a  nobleman  who  was  taking  his  walk,  and  had  stopped  to  look 
at  some  workmen  who  were  planting  trees  by  the  Emperor's  order. 
'  What  are  you  doing  ?  '  said  he.  '  Merely  seeing  the  men  work,' 
replied  the  nobleman.  '  Oh  !  is  that  your  employment  ?  Take  off 
his  pelisse,  and  give  him  a  spade  !  There,  now  work  yourself  ! ' 

•*  When  enraged,  he  lost  all  command  of  himself,  which  sometimes 
gave  rise  to  very  ludicrous  scenes.  The  courtiers  knew  very  well 
when  a  storm  was  coming  on,  by  a  trick  which  he  had  in  those  mo- 
ments of  blowing  from  his  under  lip  against  the  end  of  his  nose.  In 
one  of  his  furious  passions,  flourishing  his  cane  about,  he  struck  by 
accident  the  branch  of  a  large  glass  luster,  and  broke  it.  As  soon  as 
he  perceived  what  had  happened,  he  attacked  the  luster  in  good  earn- 
est, and  did  not  give  up  his  work  until  he  had  entirely  demolished 
it." — Clarke 's  Travels. 

The  eccentricities  of  the  Emperor  wore  out  even  the 
Russian  spirit  of  submission  at  last. 

"  Pahlen  collected  about  fifty  conspirators,  and  on  the  night  of 
March  23  increased  their  number  by  releasing  some  officers  from 
prison,  arrested  that  evening  (it  is  said,  at  his  instigation),  and  he 
impressed  on  them  that  their  only  hope  of  life  was  by  the  Emperor's 
deposition.  He  provided  for  every  contingency,  and  secured  both 
Alexander  and  Constantine  by  locking  them  up  in  their  rooms,  lest 
they  should  be  moved  at  the  important  moment  to  go  to  the  rescue  of 
their  father.  All  those  connected  with  the  plot  met  at  eight  o'clock  at 
the  house  of  General  Talitzin.  ...  On  this  last  day  of  his  life  Paul 
was  particularly  tranquil.  He  appeared  at  the  morning  parade,  where 


THE  MICHAEL  PALACE.  91 

he  wrote  a  letter  to  Bonaparte  on  the  crown  of  his  hat,  and  went  to 
the  school  for  military  orphans,  where  800  children  were  boarded  and 
instructed  at  his  cost.  It  was  a  favorite  walk  ;  and  he  returned  to  the 
palace  to  his  wife's  sitting-room  at  half-past  five,  when  her  younger 
children  were  with  her.  He  spoke  to  her  tenderly,  and  brought  her  a 
piece  of  embroidery  from  the  military  school.  He  took  his  two  young- 
est sons  on  his  knee,  and  remained  with  them  some  little  time.  As  he 
was  leaving  the  room,  Nicholas,  who  was  four  and  a  half  years  old, 
said  to  him,  '  Father,  why  are  you  called  Paul  the  First  ?  '  for  he  had 
been  studying  the  imperial  monograms  which  were  entwined  with  the 
figure  i  in  several  parts  of  the  room.  '  Because  no  one  of  that  name 
ruled  before  me,'  said  the  Emperor.  'Oh  !  then,'  said  the  boy,  '  I 
shall  be  called  Nicholas  the  First.'  '  If  you  ever  ascend  the  throne,' 
said  his  father,  abruptly.  He  stood  as  if  lost  in  thought,  fixing  his 
eyes  on  his  son,  and  then  kissed  him  passionately.  He  spent  the 
evening  with  the  Princess  Gagariue  ;  and  more  than  one  of  the  con- 
spirators, including  Nicholas  Zoubof,  had  supper  with  them  He 
spoke  to  her  of  Alexander  in  such  a  threatening  manner  that,  when  he 
left  her,  she  sent  a  slip  of  paper  to  the  prince,  begging  him  to  escape. 
'  Before  many  days,'  said  Paul,  '  everyone  will  be  astonished  by  seeing 
heads  fall  that  were  once  very  dear  to  me.' 

"  The  Emperor  retired  as  usual  between  eight  and  nine  o'clock. 
.  .  .  An  hour  afterwards  the  conspirators  appeared.  The  drawbridge 
was  pulled  up  for  the  night,  but  they  crossed  the  frozen  ditch,  discon- 
certed for  a  moment  by  the  crows  in  the  lime-trees  of  the  Summer 
Garden  setting  up  a  loud  noise.  Benningsen,  Plato  and  Nicholas 
Zoubof,  Tashwill  and  several  more,  all  masked,  led  the  first  detach- 
ment to  penetrate  into  the  Emperor's  bedroom,  while  the  rest  waited 
below  to  follow  if  necessary.  Officers  were  placed  on  duty  instead 
of  ordinary  sentinels  at  the  various  points,  but  no  artifice  could  induce 
the  faithful  hussar  who  stood  at  Paul's  door  to  leave  his  post.  As  the 
Emperor's  aid-de-camp  was  admitted  to  bring  dispatches  at  any  time 
in  the  day  or  night,  he  led  them  without  difficulty  as  far  as  the  library, 
and  told  the  hussar  to  open  the  bedroom  door,  for  he  brought  import- 
ant dispatches  to  his  Majesty.  The  man  opened  the  door,  but  im- 
mediately, suspecting  something  wrong,  shut  it  again,  and  called  the 
Emperor.  The  conspirators  struck  him  down  and  disarmed  him,  but 
he  escaped  covered  with  blood  to  summon  assistance,  and  was  seized 
and  detained  by  the  second  detachment,  while  the  first  forced  their 
way  into  the  room.  Benningsen  and  Zoubof,  in  full  uniform,  with 
their  swords  in  their  hands,  advanced  first.  The  bed  was  empty,  and 
for  an  instant  they  thought  the  Emperor  had  fled,  but  in  a  moment 
he  reappeared  from  behind  the  screen,  bringing  a  sword  from  the  recess. 
He  was  half-dressed  and  seemed  confused,  so  as  hardly  to  recognize 
them  ;  and  the  large  room  was  only  lighted  with  one  night-lamp. 

"  '  Sire,'  said  Benningsen,  *  you  are  a  prisoner,  in  the  name  of  the 
Emperor  Alexander.  Be  composed  and  sign  this  paper,  and  your 
life  will  be  safe  ; '  and  he  handed  him  a  deed  requiring  his  abdication. 
But  as  Paul  read  it  his  anger  rose  ;  he  accused  those  who  had  drawn 
it  up  of  ingratitude,  and  said  he  had  loaded  them  with  benefits.  He 
declared  he  would  rather  die  than  abdicate  in  favor  of  his  son,  and  he 
tore  up  the  paper  and  threw  it  at  his  feet. 


92  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

"At  this  moment  the  second  detachment  was  heard  approaching, 
and  Benningsen,  who  had  locked  the  door,  went  to  open  it  to  them. 
Some  state  that  Paul  took  the  opportunity  to  reach  the  window,  and 
severely  cut  his  hand,  being  dragged  down  again  by  Zoubof  and  Tash- 
will  ;  others,  that  the  cut  was  given  by  Tashwill's  sword,  which  he 
tried  to  wrench  out  of  his  hand  by  seizing  hold  of  the  blade  ;  and  that 
this  nobleman,  who  had  sworn  to  revenge  his  own  dismissal  from 
office,  laid  hold  of  the  Tsar  directly  he  threw  down  the  deed  of  abdi- 
cation, compelled  him  to  loose  his  weapon  by  breaking  his  arm  with  a 
blow,  and,  assisted  by  the  rest,  beat  him  to  force  him  to  abdicate, 
till  he  was  so  much  injured  that  they  thought  it  better  to  put  him 
to  death.  At  any  rate,  when  the  second  detachment  entered  it  found 
Paul  struggling  violently  with  Tashwill  and  four  others  ;  the  lamp 
was  overturned,  and  until  another  was  procured,  after  some  delay, 
they  fought  in  darkness.  Paul  was  heard  to  ask  what  they  had  to 
complain  of  from  him,  and  several  answered  that  he  had  tyrannized 
over  them  for  four  years,  and  they  ought  to  have  settled  matters  with 
him  long  ago.  Benningsen  said  that  he  implored  the  Emperor  not  to 
resist,  for  his  life  was  at  stake  ;  but  Savary  declares  that  he  loaded 
his  victim  with  insults  and  abuse,  and  used  to  boast  .of  it  afterward 
when  he  commanded  the  Russian  army  in  Germany.  Paul  resisted 
for  a  long  time,  and  was  struck  by  the  butt-end  of  a  pistol,  which 
fractured  his  skull,  and  drew  from  him  a  shriek,  when  the  leaders  of 
the  conspiracy,  afraid  of  a  rescue,  closed  in  upon  him,  and  held  him 
down  while  the  rest  compressed  him  round  the  waist  with  an  officer's 
scarf,  intended  to  tie  his  feet.  They  dared  not  strangle  him  round 
the  neck,  lest  he  should  be  much  disfigured,  as  the  body  would  lie  in 
state  ;  but  when  it  was  given  over  to  the  surgeons  for  embalming,  it 
presented  the  most  unmistakable  signs  of  violence.  Besides  a  broken 
arm,  and  the  wound  on  the  hand  and  head,  one  eye  had  been  put  out, 
and  he  was  bruised  from  head  to  foot.  Benningsen  kept  his  foot 
over  the  Emperor's  mouth  while  Zoubof  and  Tashwill  deliberately 
adjusted  the  scarf.  Paul  took  the  heel  of  the  boot  off  with  his  teeth, 
which  penetrated  the  officer's  skin,  and  caused  him  to  raise  it  for  an 
instant,  when  the  Emperor,  for  the  first  time,  asked  their  mercy. 
'  Gentlemen,'  he  said,  '  give  me  one  moment  to  commend  my  soul  to 
God  ! '.  but  he  was  silenced  almost  before  he  had  completed  the  sen- 
tence, and  Tashwill  and  Zoubof — or,  others  say,  Benningsen — pulled 
at  each  end  of  the  scarf  till  he  expired. 

"  Though  the  walls  of  the  palace  are  very  thick,  the  confusion  in 
the  Emperor's  bedchamber  reached  the  other  parts  of  the  building. 
The  English  cook,  in  great  alarm,  escaped  from  the  private  kitchen, 
and  rushed  off  to  an  English  merchant's  house  in  the  city  to  report 
that  the  Tsar  was  being  murdered.  Constantine,  who  was  unac- 
quainted with  the  conspiracy,  tried  to  go  to  his  father's  aid,  but  found 
himself  locked  in  his  room.  The  Empress  attempted  to  make  her 
way  through  the  folding-doors  separating  her  rooms  from  her  hus- 
band's, and,  finding  them  locked,  went  the  other  way,  but  was  inter- 
cepted in  the  library  by  a  detachment  with  strict  orders  not  to  let  her 
pass.  Here  she  was  joined  by  her  daughters,  Mary  and  Catherine, 
with  their  governess,  who,  aware  that  a  movement  was  going  on 
against  the  Emperor,  tried  to  tranquillize  her  by  assuring  her  that  the 


THE  MICHAEL  PALACE.  93 

rest  of  the  family  would  be  safe.  She  persisted  in  trying  to  pass  the 
soldiers,  when  Benningsen  appeared  from  her  husband's  room,  and 
she  immediately  appealed  to  him,  and  asked  if  she  was  a  prisoner. 
He  answered  she  was  ;  and  if  he  allowed  her  to  proceed  she  would 
only  risk  her  life  needlessly.  He  added,  '  The  Emperor  Alexander  ' 

*  Alexander  ! '  she  interrupted,  '  who  has  made  him  Emperor  ?  ' 

'  The  nation,  madam,'  replied  Benningsen  ;  '  all  classes  were  con- 
cerned in  it  :  military,  civilians,  and  courtiers.  The  life  of  Paul  is 
ended." — From  C.  foyneville,  "  Life  and  Times  of  Alexander  /. " 

"  Si  les  hommes  se  taisent  en  Russie,  les  pierres  parlent,  et  parlent 
d'une  voix  lamentable.  Je  ne  m'etonne  pas  que  les  Russes  craignent 
et  negligent  leurs  vieux  monuments  ;  ce  sont  des  temoins  de  leur  his- 
toire,  que  le  plus  souvent  ils  voudraient  oublier  :  quand  je  decouvris 
les  noirs  perrons,  les  profonds  canaux,  les  ponts  massifs,  les  peristyles 
deserts  de  ce  sinistre  palais,  j'en  demandai  le  nom,  et  ce  nom  me  rap- 
pella  malgre  moi  la  catastrophe  qui  fit  monter  Alexandre  sur  le 
trone." — M.  de  Custine. 

All  spots  in  Russia  connected  with  royal  tragedies  are 
closed  to  the  public.  It  is  very  difficult  to  obtain  leave 
to  see  the  rooms  in  which  Paul  was  murdered,  and  which 
may  be  recognized  from  the  outside  by  their  darkened 
windows  on  the  second  story.  The  Emperor  Alexander 
I.  would  never  enter  them.  The  palace  is  now  used  as  a 
School  of  Engineers.  Exact  models  of  all  the  fortified 
places  in  Russia  are  kept  in  one  of  the  halls.  These  in- 
clude the  castles  of  the  Dardanelles,  whose  presence  here 
indicates  the  way  in  which  they  are  regarded  in  Russia, 
and  recalls  the  saying  of  Alexander,  "  II  faut  avoir  les 
clefs  de  notre  maison  dans  la  poche." 

A  collection  of  ukases  upon  military  defense  is  pre- 
served here,  many  of  them  bearing  the  disconnected 
handwriting  of  "  Ickathrina  "  (Catherine  II.),  which  con- 
trasts badly  with  the  fine  signatures  of  her  grandsons 
Alexander  and  Nicholas. 

On  the  further  side  of  the  palace,  in  a  desolate  grass- 
grown  space,  is  the  equestrian  statue  which  Paul,  as 
heir-apparent,  erected  to  Peter  the  Great,  inscribed 
"  Prodadu  Prasnuk  "  "  the  grandson  to  the  grandfather." 

Hence  it  is  a  short  distance  to  the  Preobrajenski  Church 
(Spass  Preobrajenski  Sobor),  originally  founded  by 
Peter  the  Great,  but  rebuilt  1754.  It  is  a  museum  of 
military  trophies  taken  in  battle,  and  the  very  iron  rail- 
ing which  surrounds  the  churchyard  is  made  from  Turkish 
cannon. 


94  S  T  UDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

A  little  further  is  the  Taurida  Palace  (Taurichesksoi 
Dvorets),  built  1783  by.  Catherine  II.,  and  given  by  her 
to  her  favorite,  Potemkin,  Prince  of  Taurida,  after  his 
conquest  of  the  Crimea,  but  eventually  repurchased  by 
her.  It  was  in  its  gardens  that  the  imperious  favorite, 
Gregory  Orlof,  used  to  give  the  Empress  his  arm,  and 
force  her  to  take  walking  exercise,  saying,  "  Kattinka,  we 
must  be  cheerful  in  order  to  be  well,  and  we  must  walk 
in  order  to  be  cheerful."  It  was  here  that  Potemkin 
(whom  the  Empress  is  frequently  believed  to  have 
secretly  married  in  1784)  gave  his  celebrated  fetes.  It 
is  said  that  the  favorite  was  indebted  for  his  fortunes  to  a 
feather.  When,  in  the  revolution  which  gave  her  the 
throne,  the  Empress  appeared  at  the  head  of  the  guards, 
Potemkin,  a  young  cavalry  officer,  seeing  she  had  no 
feather  in  her  hat,  rode  up  to  her  and  presented  his. 

The  ball-room  had  20,000  waxlights.  Yet  the  Taurida 
Palace  is  a  characteristic  specimen  of  a  great  house  in 
St.  Petersburg  :  "  the  marble  is  all  false,  the  silver  is 
plated  copper,  the  pillars  and  statues  are  of  brick,  and 
the  pictures  copies."  Here  we  may  imagine  Potemkin, 
as  he  is  described  in  the  letters  of  the  Prince  de  Ligne, 
"  d'une  main  faisant  des  signes  aux  femmes  qui  lui  plais- 
ent,  et  de  1'autre  des  signes  de  croix."  South  or  New 
Russia  still  bears  witness  to  his  administrative  genius, 
but  many  are  the  stories  of  his  insolence  to  his  contem- 
poraries, such  as  his  boxing  the  ears  of  a  prince  who 
applauded  one  of  his  jokes  by  clapping  his  hands,  with, 
"  What  ?  Do  you  take  me  for  an  actor  on  the  stage  ?  " 
After  a  life  of  almost  unbounded  luxury,  the  end  of  Po- 
temkin was  miserable.  Worn  out  at  an  early  age  by  vice, 
he  refused  to  be  treated  by  doctors,  and,  affirming  that 
the  strength  of  his  constitution  would  overcome  all  his 
ailments,  he  lived  on  salt  meats,  raw  turnips,  and  spirits. 
In  traveling  from  Jassy  to  Ochakow,  however,  his  suffer- 
ings became  so  great  that  he  could  not  bear  the  motion 
of  the  carriage  ;  his  servants  spread  a  carpet  for  him 
under  a  tree,  and  there  he  died. 

In  later  times  the  Taurida  Palace  was  inhabited  by  the 
Empress  Maria  Feodorovna,  widow  of  the  murdered  Paul. 

"  Pour  arriver  dans  son  appartement,  il  faut  traverser  une  salle 
batie  par  le  prince  Potemkin  ;  cette  salle  est  d'une  grandeur  incom- 


MUSEUM  OF  IMPERIAL  CARRIAGES.  95 

parable  ;  un  jardin  d'hiver  en  occupe  une  partie,  et  on  voit  les  plantes 
ct  les  arbres  a  travers  les  colonnes  qui  entourent  1'enceinte  du  milieu. 
Tout  est  colossal  dans  cette  demeure  ;  les  conceptions  du  prince  qui 
1'a  construite  etaient  bizarrement  gigantesques.  II  faisait  batir  des 
villes  en  Crimee,  seulement  pour  que  I'impe'ratrice  les  vit  sur  son  pas- 
sage ;  il  ordonnait  1'assaut  d'une  forteresse  pour  plaire  a  une  belle 
femme,  la  princesse  Dolgorouki,  qui  avail  dedaigne  son  hommage." 
— Madame  de  Stael. 

It  was  in  this  palace  that  King  Stanislaus  lived,  saying 
that  he  felt  more  like  a  king  there  than  he  had  ever  done 
upon  the  throne  of  Poland  ;  anct  here  he  died. 

Beyond  the  Taurida  Palace,  beautifully  situated  at  a 
bend  of  the  Neva,  is  the  Smolnoi  Convent,  founded  by  the 
Empress  Marie,  who  has  a  simple  monument  in  the 
church,  which  is  ornamented  by  a  profusion  of  stoves 
like  little  chapels.  The  convent  is  now  a  seminary  for 
eight  hundred  young  ladies. 


We  have  now  probably  noticed  all  the  spots  which  will 
be  interesting  to  those  who  make  a  cursory  visit  to  St. 
Petersburg,  except  one — the  Museum  of  Imperial  Car- 
riages. Many  of  these  are  indescribably  splendid.  Some 
are  gilt  all  over  ;  others  are  exquisitely  painted.  In 
many  the  handles,  the  coats  of  arms,  even  the  steps,  are 
incrusted  either  with  real  diamonds  and  emeralds,  or 
with  false  stones,which  are  quite  as  captivating,  and  safer 
as  regards  the  crowd  who  see  them  at  coronations. 
There  are  miniature  carriages  and  sledges  of  many  gen- 
erations of  Imperial  children.  The  sledge  of  Peter  the 
Great,  which  he  made  himself,  is  like  a  cottage  inside, 
with  mica  windows.  All  his  luggage  was  contained  in  a 
wooden  box  behind.  At  the  end  of  the  collection  is  a 
terrible  and  touching  memorial — the  carriage  of  Alex- 
ander II.,  in  which  he  was  driving  just  before  his 
murder,  split  and  shivered  at  the  back  by  the  first  bomb, 
from  which  he  so  miraculously  escaped  ;  the  place  of 
the  absent  servant  shattered  ;  the  cushions  upheaved  or 
thrown  down. 

Carriages  are  luxuries  of  such  recent  date  in  Russia 
that  even  under  Peter  the  Great  no  subject  except  the 
rich  boyar  Michel  Ivanovitch  Loukoff,  burgomaster  of 


g6  STUDIES  IN  XUSSIA. 

Archangel,  possessed  one.  All  the  great  Russian  world 
coveted  it,  though  it  had  only  cost  1,000  roubles.  Ment- 
chikoff  wished  to  obtain  it  ;  and  as  Loukorf  refused  to 
part  with  it,  he  avenged  himself  by  preventing  his  obtain- 
ing an  inheritance  due  to  him  from  his  wife.1 

"  Je  vous  ai  decrit  une  ville  sans  caractere,  plutot  pompeuse  qu'im- 
posante,  plus  vaste  que  belle,  remplie  d'edifices  sans  style,  sans  gout, 
sans  signification  historique.  Mais  pour  etre  complet,  c'est-a-dire 
vrai,  il  fallait  en  meme  temps  faire  mouvoir  a  vos  yeux,  dans  ce  cadre 
pretentieux  et  ridicule,  des  hommes  naturellement  gracieux,  et  qui, 
avec  leur  genie  oriental,  ont  su  s'approprier  une  ville  batie  pour  un 
peuple  qui  n'existe  nulle  part  ;  car  Petersbourg  a  etc  fait  par  des 
hommes  riches,  et  dont  1'esprit  s'etait  forme  en  comparant,  sans  etude 

approfondie,  les  divers  pays  de  1'Europe Les  ingenieurs  euro- 

pe'ens  sont  venus  dire  aux  Moscovites  comment  ils  devaient  construire 
et  orner  une  capitale  digne  de  1'admiration  de  1'Europe,  et  ceux-ci, 
avec  leur  soumission  militaire,  ont  cede  a  la  force  du  commandement. 
Pierre  le  Grand  a  bati  Petersbourg  contre  les  Suedois  bien  plus  que 
pour  les  Russes  ;  mais  le  naturel  du  peuple  s'est  fait  jour  malgre  sa 
defiance  de  soi-meme  ;  et  c'est  a  cette  desobeissance  involontaire  que 
la  Russie  doit  son  cachet  d'originalite  :  rien  n'a  pu  effacer  le  caractere 
primitif  des  habitants  ;  ce  triomphe  des  facultes  innees  contre  une 
education  mal  dirigee  est  un  spectacle  interessant  pour  tout  voyageur 
capable  de  1'apprecier. " — M.  de  Cusiine. 

The  same  impression,  probably,  is  left  on  the  minds  of 
all  who  have  visited  St.  Petersburg — a  prevailing  sense 
of  the  vastness  of  every  thing— the  squares,  the  streets, 
the  palaces,  the  overgrown  desolate  suburbs  ;  and,  in 
spite  of  the  interest  of  much  that  is  curious  and  strange, 
a  weariness  of  a  city  so  beautiless,  so  uncouth,  and  so 
irksome  to  a  stranger  in  the  bondage  of  its  petty 
restraints. 

"  La  magnificence  est  le  caractere  de  tout  ce  qu'on  voit  en  Russie  ; 
le  genie  de  1'homme  ni  les  dons  de  la  nature  n'en  font  la  beaute." — 
Madame  de  Stael. 

i  Victor  Tissot,  Russes  et  Allemands. 


CHAPTER  III. 

EXCURSIONS   ROUND    ST.    PETERSBURG. 

EXCEPTING  on  the  islands,  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  the  capital  has  no  beauty.     Perfectly 
flat  of  course,  it  is  often  marshy,  and  always  intensely 
melancholy. 

"Dans  ce  pays  sans  paysages  coulent  des  fleuves  hnmenses,  mais 
sans  couleur  ;  ils  coulent  a  travers  un  pays  grisatre,  dans  des  terrains 
sablonneux,  et  disparaissent  sous  des  coteaux  pas  plus  hauts  que  des 
digues,  et  brunis  par  des  forets  marecageuses.  On  sent  1'hiver  et  la 
mort  planer  sur  tous  ces  sites  :  la  lumiere  et  le  climat  du  Nord  don- 
nent  aux  objets  une  teinte  funebre  :  au  bout  de  quelques  semaines,  le 
voyageur  epouvante  se  croit  enterre  vif  ;  il  voudrait  dechirer  son  lin- 
ceul  et  fuir  ce  cimetiere  sans  cloture  et  qui  n'a  de  bornes  que  celles  de 
la  vue  ;  il  lutte  de  toutes  ses  forces  pour  soulever  le  voile  de  plomb 
qui  le  separe  des  vivants.  N'allez  jamais  dans  le  Nord  pour  vous 
amuser,  a  moins  que  vous  ne  cherchiez  votre  amusement  dans  1'etude; 
car  il  y  a  beaucoup  a  etudier  ici." — M.  de  Custine. 

"  II  y  a  tant  d'espace  en  Russie  que  tout  s'y  perd,  meme  des  cha- 
teaux, meme  la  population.  On  dirait  qu'on  traverse  un  pays  dont  la 
nation  vient  de  s'en  aller.  L'absence  d'oiseaux  ajoute  a  ce  silence  ; 
les  bestiaux  aussi  sont  rares,  ou  du  moins  ils  sont  places  a  une  grande 
distance  de  la  route.  L'etendue  fait  tout  disparaitre,  excepte  1'eten- 
due  meme,  qui  poursuit  1'imagination  comme  de  certaines  idees  meta- 
physiques,  dont  la  pensee  ne  peut  plus  se  debarrasser,  quand  elle  en 
est  une  fois  saisie." — Madame  de  Stael. 

A  number  of  railway  stations  encircle  the  town.  From 
that  in  the  south-eastern  suburbs  we  took  the  train  to 
Oranienbaum,  which  is  situated  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Neva,  opposite  Cronstadt,  of  which  the  fortress  rises  like 
a  great  martello  tower  beyond  the  wide  estuary.  A  short 
walk  through  the  village  leads  from  the  station  to  the 
steps  into  the  gardens  of  the  palace.  This  is  an  exceed- 
ingly pretty  building  of  gray  and  yellow  coloring  stand- 
ing on  a  high  terrace,  approached  by  winding  staircases 
from  the  broad  walk  below,  by  the  side  of  which  nurses 
may  constantly  be  seen  sitting  with  the  Kakoshnik  (a 


98  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

half-crescent  with  a  long  pendent  veil)  on  their  heads, 
watching  their  charges  at  play.  A  chain  of  flowers  con- 
nects the  palace  with  the  woods,  and  as  a  residence  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  any  thing  more  attractive  and 
unpretending  than  this — the  lofty  terrace  so  radiant  with 
blossoms,  and  the  view  so  enchanting  of  deep-blue  sea 
across  the  woods,  and  the  old-fashioned  gardens  with 
their  thickets  of  lilacs.  But  there  is  not  one  of  the 
imperial  residences  near  St.  Petersburg  which  is  haunted 
by  the  memory  of  more  terrible  dramas  than  Oranien- 
baum.  It  was  originally  built  by  the  famous  Mentchik- 
off,  when  he  was  at  the  summit  of  his  power.  This 
extraordinary  person,  when  a  boy,  known  as  Alexashka 
— the  little  Alexander — struck  the  fancy  of  Peter  the 
Great,1  who  took  him  into  his  service,  in  which  his 
extreme  subservience,  which  allowed  the  Tsar  to  beat 
and  kick  him  like  a  dog,  led  to  his  rapid  advancement. 
Eventually  his  influence  was  such  that  he  was  permitted 
to  give  audiences,  personating  his  sovereign,  while  Peter 
appeared  as  a  private  individual  in  his  suite.  His  good 
fortune  continued  under  Catherine  I.,  who  ordered  her 
successor,  Peter  II.,  to  marry  his  daughter.  But,  under 
this  prince,  the  insolence  of  Mentchikoff  led,  in  1727,  to 
his  imprisonment  at  Beresof,  where  he  lived  for  two  years 
and  a  half,  and  died  in  1729.  His  surviving  son  and 
daughter,  who  shared  his  imprisonment,  were  released 
under  the  Empress  Anne.  Having  been  confiscated  on 
the  attainder  of  Mentchikoff,  the  palace  became  the  fav- 
orite residence  of  Peter  III.,  who  added  its  wings. 

Thus  Oranienbaum  became  the  scene  of  most  of  the 
early  loves  of  his  wife,  the  famous  Catherine,  every  sum- 
mer-house having  its  especial  reminiscence  of  a  rendez- 
vous. There  are  also  some  remains  of  the  little  fortress 
whence  Peter  III.  was  dragged  to  Ropschka,  where  he 
was  assassinated  by  Alexis  Orlof  and  his  associates. 

' '  Ruine  moderne,  ou  la  politique  a  plus  de  part  que  le  temps.  Mais 
le  silence  commande,  la  solitude  f  orcee  qui  regnent  autour  de  ces  debris 
maudits,  nous  retracent  precisement  ce  qu'on  voudrait  nous  cacher  ; 
la,  comme  ailleurs,  le  mensonge  officiel  est  annule  par  les  faits  :  1'his- 

i  There  seems  to  be  no  foundation  for  the  story  that  Mentchikoff,  in  his  boyhood, 
sold  pies  in  the  streets  of  Moscow,  whatever  he  may  have  done  for  amusement  in 
the  camp  at  Preobrajensky.  See  Schuyler's  Life  of  Peter  the  Great. 


ORANIENBA  I  J/.  99 

toire  est  un  miroir  magique  ou  les  peuples  voient,  apres  la  mort  des 
hommes  qui  furent  influents  dans  ^Ics  affaires,  toutes  leurs  inutiles 
grimaces.  Les  personnes  ont  passe,  mais  leurs  physionomies  restent 
grave'es  sur  cet  inexorable  cristal.  .  .  .  Si  je  n'avais  su  que  le  chateau 
de  Pierre  III.  e'tait  de'moli,  j'aurais  dii  le  deviner  ;  mais  ce  que 
m'etonne  en  voyant  le  prix  qu'on  met  ici  a  faire  oublier  le  passe,  c'est 
que  Ton  y  conserve  quelque  chose.  Les  noms  memes  devraient  dis- 
paraitre  avec  les  murs." — M.  de  Custine. 

During  the  few  months  of  his  reign,  Peter  had  ren- 
dered himself  obnoxious  not  only  to  his  wife,  but  to  the 
Russian  clergy,  by  the  contempt  which  he  evinced  for 
the  national  religion.  His  offenses  of  this  kind  began 
even  in  the  chamber  where  his  aunt,  the  Empress  Eliza- 
beth, was  lying  in  state. 

' '  On  le  voyait  chuchoter  et  sourire  avec  les  dames  de  service, 
tourner  les  pretres  en  ridicule,  chercher  querelle  aux  officiers,  aux  sen- 
tinelles  meme,  sur  le  pli  de  leur  cravate,  sur  le  grandeur  de  leurs 
boucles  et  la  coupe  de  leur  uniforme." — Princess  Dashkof. 

Peter  alienated  the  army  by  attempting  to  introduce 
Prussian  uniforms  and  exercises,  and  by  suppressing  the 
body-guard  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth.  He  enraged  the 
whole  Court  by  the  ridiculous  rigor  of  his  etiquette,  and 
the  maids  of  honor  in  particular  by  forcing  them  to 
courtesy  in  the  German  fashion.  Aristocratic  society  in 
Russia  had  already  become  sufficiently  refined  to  be  dis- 
gusted by  his  habits. 

"La  vie  que  1'empereur  mene  est  la  plus  honteuse  ;  il  passe  les 
soirees  a  fumer,  a  boire  de  la  biere,  et  ne  cesse  ces  deux  exercices  qu'a 
cinq  ou  six  heures  du  matin,  et  presque  toujours  ivre-mort.  ...  II  a 
redouble  d'e'gard  pour  Mile.  Voronzof  ;  il  faut  avouer  que  c'est  un 
gout  bizarre  ;  elle  est  sans  esprit  ;  quant  a  la  figure,  c'est  tout  ce  qu'on 
voit  de  pis  ;  elle  ressemble  en  tout  point  a  une  servante  d'auberge  de 
mauvais  aloi. " — M.  de  Breteuil. 

At  length  the  Empress  discovered  or  fancied  that  her 
husband  intended  to  divorce  her  to  marry  his  mistress, 
Elizabeth  Voronzof,  and  to  shut  her  up  in  a  convent, 
disinheriting  her  son  Paul  in  favor  of  his  cousin  Ivan  VI. 
From  this  time  she  watched  and  waited.  Suddenly, 
accompanied  by  her  lover,  Alexis  Orlof,  and  his  brother, 
she  fled  from  the  palace,  and,  placing  herself  at  the  head 
of  the  army  in  St.  Petersburg,  marched  upon  Oranien- 
baum  at  the  head  of  20,000  men.  Peter  escaped  to 


I oo  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA. 

Cronstadt,  but  Catherine  had  already  sent  to  secure  the 
fortress,  and  when  he  disembarked  exclaiming  "  I  am  the 
Tsar,"  the  admiral  met  him  with  "  The  Tsar  no  longer 
exists."  He  returned  to  Oranienbaum,  where,  in  the 
words  of  Frederick  II.,  he  abdicated  quietly  "  like  a  child 
who  is  sent  to  bed."  His  wife  dispatched  him  under  a 
guard  to  Ropschka,1  twenty-seven  versts  distant,  where, 
four  days  after,  Catherine  and  Orlof  agree  that  he  should 
die  of  dysentery. 

"  Les  soldats  etaient  etonnes  de  ce  qu'ils  avaient  fait :  ils  ne  conce- 
vaientpaspar  quel  enchantement  on  les  avait  conduits  jusqu'adetroner 
le  petit-fils  de  Pierre  le  Grand  pour  donner  la  couronne  a  une  Alle- 
mande.  La  plupart,  sans  projet  et  sans  idee,  avaient  e'te  entraine's 
par  le  mouvement  et  les  autres  ;  et  chacun,  rentre  dans  sa  bassesse, 
apres  que  le  plaisir  de  disposer  d'une  couronne  fut  evanoui,  ne  sentit 
plus  que  des  remords.  Les  matelots,  qu'on  n'avait  point  inte'resses 
dans  le  soulevement,  reprochaient  publiquement  aux  gardes  dans  les 
cabarets  d'avoir  vendu  leur  empereur  pour  la  biere.  La  pitie,  qui 
Justine  meme  les  plus  grands  criminels,  se  faisait  entendre  dans  tous 
les  coeurs.  Une  nuit,  une  troupe  de  soldats  attaches  a  1'imperatrice 
s'ameuta  par  une  vaine  crainte,  disant  '  que  leur  mere  etait  en  dan- 
ger.' II  fallut  la  reveiller  pour  qu'ils  la  vissent.  La  nuit  suivante, 
nouvelle  emeute  plus  dangereu  e.  Tant  que  la  vie  de  1  empereur  lais- 
sait  un  pretexte  aux  inquietudes,  on  pensa  qu'on  n'aurait  point  de  tran- 
quillite. 

"  Un  des  comtes  Orlof,  et  un  nomme  Teplof,  furent  ensemble  vers 
ce  malheureux  prince  ;  ils  lui  annoncerent,  en  entrant,  qu'ils  etaient 
venus  pour  diner  avec  lui,  et  selon  1'usage  des  Russes,  on  apporta 
avant  le  repas  des  verres  d'eau-de-vie.  Celui  que  but  1'empereur  etait 
un  verre  de  poison.  Soit  qu  ils  eussent  hate  de  rapporter  leur  nouv- 
elle, soit  que  1'horreur  meme  de  leur  action  la  leur  fit  pre'cipiter,  ils 
voulurent  un  moment  apres  lui  verser  un  second  verre.  Deja  ses 
entrailles  brulaient,  et,  1'atrocite  de  leurs  physionomies  les  lui  rendant 
suspects,  il  refusa  ce  verre  ;  ils  mirent  de  la  violence  a  le  lui  faire 
prendre,  lui  a  les  repousser.  Dans  ce  terrible  debat,  pour  etouffer  ses 
cris  qui  commen9aient  a  se  faire  entendre  de  loin,  ils  se  precipiterent 
stir  lui,  le  saisirent  a  la  gorge,  et  le  renverserent  ;  mais  comme  il  se 
defendait  avec  toutes  les  forces  que  donne  le  dernier  desespoir,  et 
qu'ils ^evitaientde  lui  porter  aucune  blessure,  reduits  a  craindre  pour 
euxmemes,  ils  appelerent  a.  leur  secours  deux  officiers  charges  de  sa 
garde,  qui  a  ce  moment  se  tenaient  en  dehors  a  la  porte  de  sa  prison. 
C'etait  le  plus  jeune  des  princes  Bariatinski  et  un  nomme  Potemkin, 
age  de  dix-sept  ans.  Ils  avaient  montre  tant  de  zele  dans  la  conspira- 
tion,  que,  malgre  leur  extreme  jeunesse,  on  les  avait  charges  de  cette 
garde  ;  ils  accoururent,  et  trois  de  ces  meurtriers  ayant  noue  et  serre 
une  serviette  autour  du  cou  de  ce  malheureux  empereur,  tandis 
qu'Orlof  de  ses  deux  genoux  lui  pressait  la  poitrine  et  le  tenait  e'touffe, 

i  See  Tooke's  Life  of  Catherine  //. 


ORANIE&BA&  TJ  r.  1,0 1 

ils  acheverent  ainsi  de  1'etrangler,  et  il  demeura  sans  vie  entre  leurs 
mains. 

"  On  ne  sait  pas  avec  certitude  quelle  part  1'imperatrice  cut  a  cet 
evenement  ;  mais  ce  qu'on  peut  assurer,  c'est  que,  le  jour  meme  qu'il 
se  passa,  cette  princesse  commencant  son  diner  avec  beaucoup  de 
gaiete,  on  vit  entrer  ce  meme  Orlof  echevele,  couvert  de  sueur  et  de 
poussiere,  ses  habits  dechires,  sa  physionomie  agitee,  plein  d'horreur 
et  de  precipitation.  En  entrant,  ses  yeux  etincelants  et  troubles 
chercherent  les  yeux  de  I'imperatrice.  Elle  se  leva  en  silence,  passa 
dans  un  cabinet  ou  il  la  suivit,  et  quelques  instants  apres  elle  y  fit 
appeler  le  comte  Panin,  deja  nomme  son  ministre  ;  elle  lui  apprit  que 
1'empereur  e'tait  mort.  Panin  conseilla  de  laisser  passer  une  nuit  et 
de  repandre  la  nouvelle  le  lendemafn,  comme  si  Ton  1'avait  re£ue  pen- 
dant la  nuit.  Ce  conseil  ayant  ete  agree,  l'imperatrice  rentra  avec  le 
meme  visage  et  continua  son  diner  avec  le  meme  gaiete.  Le  lende- 
main,  quandon  cut  repandu  que  Pierre  etait  mort  d'une  colique  hemor- 
roi'dale,  elle  parut  baignee  de  pleurs,  etpubliasa  douleur  par  un  edit." 
— Rulhiere,  "  Anecdotes  stir  la  Aussie  "  imprimes  a  la  suite  de  son  His- 
toirz  de  Pologne. 

"  It  was  very  sad  for  such  a  humane  man  as  I  was  to 
be  obliged  to  carry  out  what  was  required  of  my  obedi- 
ence in  this  case,"  said  Orlof  nine  years  later  !  Many 
Russians  have  looked  upon  Peter  III.  as  a  martyr  for 
their  ancient  customs,  and  a  tradition  even  asserts  that 
he  still  lives  in  Siberia,  whence  he  will  be  summoned  by 
the  great  bell  of  the  Kremlin  of  Moscow  penetrating  so 
far.1 

We  took  a  carriage  from  Oranienbaum  and  drove  to 
Peterhof,  about  five  miles  distant.  This  is  much  the 
best  way  of  approaching  the  Russian  Windsor.  The 
country  recalls  Sweden  in  the  freshness  of  its  green  pas- 
tures, detached  groups  of  self-sown  birches  and  firs,  and 
the  lovely  glints  of  sea  between  them.  On  the  rising 
ground  to  the  right  are  several  little  villas  half  buried  in 
the  woods,  and  the  miniature  palace  of  Serieffsky,  which 
was  given  to  the  Grand-Duchess  Marie  by  her  father 
upon  her  marriage  with  the  Duke  of  Leuchtenberg.  Im- 
perceptibly the  surroundings  become  more  trim  and 
cared  for,  gravel  walks  wind  through  the  lovely  woods, 
and  we  reach  the  shore  of  a  little  lake,  on  the  bank  of 
which  stands  Marly,  the  favorite  cottage  of  Peter  the 
Great,  scarcely  altered  from  his  time,  and  containing  his 

i  Ropschka^  of  terrible  memories,  still  exists,  and  should  be  visited  by  students 
of  Russian  history.  The  road  thither  f--n  St.  Petersburg  passes  Strclna,  a  palace 
of  the  Grand-Duke  Constantine,  original^  built  l-y  Peter  the  Great,  and  rebuilt 
by  Alexander  I. 


102'. 


S' 'IN  RUSSIA. 


kitchen  with  its  old  tiles  and  stove,  and  his  bed-room, 
with  its  old  bed  and  toilet-table  and  even  his  old  dress- 
ing-gown carefully  preserved.  The  cottage  is  well  worth 
seeing,  and  a  great  contrast  to  the  gorgeous  gilding  and 
decoration  of  all  the  larger  palaces.  The  lake  in  front 
is  declared  to  be  full  of  fish,  some  of  which,  of  great 
antiquity,  have  chains  round  their  necks,  placed  there  by 
Peter  the  Great.  They  are  said  to  come  up  to  feed 
whenever  their  dinner-bell  is  rung  ;  but,  alas,  the  bell 
was  rung  for  us  and  no  fish  appeared. 


PALACE   OF   PETERHOF. 


Near  Marly  is  one  of  the  finest  fountains  in  Russia.  A 
beautiful  copy  (not  model)  of  a  Greek  temple  of  red  and 
gray  marble,  with  a  white  marble  plinth  and  pedestal, 
rises,  in  the  midst  of  the  woods,  from  a  marble  basin  like 
a  miniature  lake,  into  which  tall  fountains  springing 
between  each  of  the  pillars,  and  many  mouths  in  the  base- 
ment, are  splashing  and  foaming.  Hence  we  passed 
through  a  succession  of  fairy  water-scenes,  magnificent 
jets  in  the  recesses  of  the  forests,  water-nymphs  veiled  by 
the  spray  of  a  hundred  intersecting  cascades,  till,  while 


PETERHOF.  103 

crossing  a  bridge,  we  reached  the  climax  of  the  whole, 
and  looked  up,  between  wooded  avenues,  to  the  great 
and  beautiful  palace  of  Peterhof,  beneath  which  the  whole 
hillside  was  a  turmoil  of  exquisite  fountains,  leaping  high 
into  the  tops  of  the  trees,  dashing  over  precipices,  sport- 
ing round  tritons  and  naiads,  enwreathing,  embracing, 
intersecting,  and  illuminated  into  a  splendor  of  prismatic 
coloring  by  the  sun  of  a  cloudless  sky. 

Long,  long  had  we  to  wait  before  the  various  little 
forms  and  ceremonies  which  attend  upon  a  royal  portal 
in  this  land  of  useless  formalities,  were  sufficiently  satis- 
fied to  allow  the  customary  silver  keys  to  open  the  doors 
of  the  palace  to  us  ;  but  meanwhile  it  was  delightful  to 
have  the  old-fashioned  gardens  to  sit  in,  with  their  bril- 
liant flowers,  and  background  of  clipped  hornbeam.  The 
staircase  where  Peter  III.  was  stripped,  after  his  capture, 
of  his  orders  and  jewels,  and  even  of  all  his  clothes  but 
his  shirt,  leads  to  the  principal  apartments.  Here,  the 
pictures  for  the  most  part  represent  the  naval  glories,  as 
those  of  Oranienbaum  the  military  glories  of  Russia. 
One  room,  however,  is  entirely  covered  with  portraits  by 
Count  Rotari,  some  of  them  admirable  as  paintings,  and 
all  full  of  life  and  variety.  Catherine  II.  sent  the  artist 
to  travel  over  Russia  and  to  paint  every  good-looking 
peasant  girl  he  saw.  The  "  White  Room  "  is  charming, 
with  its  polished  white  walls  and  furniture.  Other  rooms 
recall  the  first  years  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  (1741- 
1762),  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  in  whom  the  people 
welcomed  not  only  the  substitution  of  the  race  of  Peter 
for  that  of  Ivan,  but  the  triumph  of  the  national  over  the 
German  party.  The  chamber  of  the  Empress,  with  its 
comfortable  dais,  has  two  portraits  of  her,  one  naked  as 
an  infant,  the  other  robed  as  a  sovereign.  Here  she  used 
to  listen  to  the  inflated  verses  of  the  poet  Lomonossof, 
who  saluted  her  as  the  Astrea  who  had  restored  the 
golden  age,  the  Moses  who  had  rescued  Russia  from  the 
darkness  of  Egyptian  slavery,  the  Noah  who  had  pre- 
served it  from  the  foreign  deluge.  But  to  posterity  the 
character  of  Elizabeth  has  not  seemed  so  admirable. 

"  It  is  supposed  that  the  government  of  Elizabeth  cost  eveiy  year 
to  her  empire  at  least  one  thousand  of  her  subjects  by  private  impris- 
onment, which,  during  the  twenty  years  and  upwards  that  she  reigned, 


1 04  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA. 

makes  the  number  amount  to  above  twenty  thousand.  Nothing  was 
more  easy  than  to  obtain  a  secret  order  for  this  purpose  by  the  flat- 
terers of  all  ranks  that  swarmed  about  her  person.  It  was  sufficient 
for  one  of  her  maids  of  honor  to  think  herself  slighted,  for  getting  an 
order  to  have  a  person  taken  out  of  bed  in  the  night,  carried  away 
blindfolded  and  gagged,  and  immured  underground,  there  to  drag 
out  the  remainder  of  life  in  a  solitary  and  loathsome  dungeon,  without 
ever  being  charged  with  any  crime,  or  even  knowing  in  what  part  of 
the  country  he  was.  On  the  disappearance  of  any  such  person  from 
his  family,  from  his  relations,  from  the  circle  of  his  acquaintance,  it 
was  highly  dangerous  to  make  any  inquiries  after  him.  '  He  has  dis- 
appeared," was  held  sufficient  answer  to  questions  of  this  nature." — 
Tooke's  Life  of  Catherine  II. 

Endless  is  the  variety  of  walks  and  drives  in  the  lovely 
woods  around  Peterhof.  Formerly  these  were  lighted 
up  for  one  night  in  every  summer — generally  on  the  birth- 
day of  the  Empress — a  fete  which  reached  its  greatest 
magnificence  in  the  time  of  Catherine  II.  These  illumin- 
ations, when  the  trees  disappeared  in  their  jeweled  dec- 
orations, recalled  the  Bagdad  of  the  "  Arabian  Nights  " 
or  the  more  famous  Babylon  of  Semiramis.  Eighteen 
hundred  men  were  employed  in  the  lighting,  and  accom- 
plished it  in  thirty-five  minutes.  In  a  pretty  situation  on 
the  sea-shore,  is  the  cottage-like  palace  of  Montplaisir. 
Near  it  is  an  oak,  which  Catherine  II.,  on  the  evening 
before  the  revolution  which  placed  her  on  the  throne, 
observed  to  be  springing  from  an  acorn,  and  which  she 
then  herself  surrounded  with  little  sticks  as  a  protection: 
her  long  reign  enabled  her  to  see  it  grow  into  a  tree.1 

Znamenska  is  another  little  palace  built  by  an  English 
architect  for  the  wife  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  on  land 
which  had  been  given  to  her  by  her  brother-in-law  Alex- 
ander I.  It  has  charming  views  toward  Cronstadt  and 
St.  Petersburg.  Between  the  palace  of  Peterhof  and  the 
railway  is  a  large  lake  with  two  little  palaces  on  islets 
called  Isola  Bella  and  Isola  Madre,  which  also  belonged 
to  the  Empress  Alexandra.  The  former  of  these  is  a 
lovely  little  Italian  villa  with  a  brilliant  garden,  whither, 
in  happier  days,  the  Imperial  family  were  fond  of  resort- 
ing for  tea,  and  whither  strangers  are  ferried  across  by 
boatmen  dressed  in  a  livery  of  white  linen.  But  now 
no  Empress  can  attempt  to  fulfill  what  used  to  be  looked 
upon  as  her  duty  : — 

\  See  poles  to  Tooke,  vol.  i.  p.  232, 


SERGI.  105 

"  Le  devoir  d'une  imperatrice  est  de  s'amuser  a  la  mort. " — M.  de 
Custine. 

If  the  return  from  Oranienbaum  or  Peterhof  be  made 
by  sea,  Cronstadt  may  be  visited,  the  fortified  port  which 
was  one  of  the  favorite  creations  of  Peter  the  Great,  and 
in  which  all  succeeding  emperors  have  taken  a  great 
interest.  It  was  with  truth  that  Lord  Durham  said  to 
Nicholas,  "  Les  vaisseaux  de  guerre  des  Russes  sont  les 
joujoux  de  I'empereur  de  Russie." 


We  made  a  separate  excursion  to  visit  the  famous 
monastery  of  Sergi  (easily  accessible  by  rail),  though  it  is 
on  the  road  to  Peterhof,  the  road  which  the  Empress 
Catherine  found  so  dull  when  she  created  the  palace,  that 
she  bestowed  the  land  bordering  upon  it  upon  her  dif- 
ferent favorites,  on  condition  that  they  should  build 
residences  looking  out  upon  the  highway,  and  thus  en- 
liven the  route  she  so  frequently  traversed.  The 
traveler  Swinton,  who  visited  St.  Petersburg  in  her  reign, 
says  :  "  Catherine  II.  does  not  merely  measure  out  an  ell 
of  ribbon  to  her  knights,  but  measures  out  to  them, 
besides,  a  mile,  a  league,  or  even  a  latitude  of  acres  :  the 
scale  of  her  bounty  is  as  magnificent  as  that  of  her 
Empire."  These  country-houses  are  all  deserted  till  May, 
when  the  country  life  of  Russia  begins.  Every  one  leaves 
St.  Petersburg  at  that  time,  even  servants  moving  their 
families  into  some  country  lodging,  however  poor.  The 
first  burst  of  spring  occurs  about  St.  George's  Day  (April 
23),  when  the  cattle,  which  have  been  fed  in  winter  with 
straw,  and  emerge  like  skeletons  from  their  stables,  are 
brought  out  for  the  summer,  and  sprinkled  with  holy 
water  by  the  priest.  Then  the  upper  classes  send  out  to 
have  the  windows  of  their  villas  opened  and  their  rooms 
aired  from  the  damp  of  winter. 

"'When  winter  vanishes,  summer  is.'  It  is  not  the  work  of  a 
week,  or  a  day,  but  of  one  instant  ;  and  the  manner  of  it  exceeds 
belief.'  " — Clarke 's  "  Travels" 

The  heat  goes  on  increasing  till  after  St.  Elijah's  Day 
(July  20),  when  the  rolling  of  the  Saint's  chariot  is  Relieved 


106  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

to  be  heard  in  the  thunder.  "  Eternal  stillness  "  is  said  to 
be  the  essential  characteristic  of  monotonous  Russian 
country  life,  though  the  larger  houses  are  filled  with  guests, 
to  whom  an  invitation  generally  means  an  invitation  for  the 
whole  summer.  Nothing  is  so  much  wished  for  as  guests, 
and  it  is  a  fact  that  in  some  remote  country  places,  would- 
be  passers-on  have  found  the  wheels  taken  off  their 
tarantass  to  compel  them  to  remain.  In  the  smaller 
country  houses,  the  living  rooms  divide  the  male  and  female 
apartments.  Wearisome  dullness  is  the  order  of  the  day. 
The  men  seldom  do  any  thing  but  sit  in  one  arm-chair 
after  another  and  smoke  :  the  most  important  avocation 
of  the  women  is  ordering  dinner  ;  the  afternoon  siesta  is 
a  welcome  interlude  in  unutterable  boredom. 

Custine  speaks  of  one  of  these  houses  in  which  a  great 
lady  of  St.  Petersburg,  who  had  been  married  several 
times,  preserved  in  her  garden  the  tombs  of  her  different 
husbands,  whom  she  began  to  love  passionately  as  soon 
as  they  were  dead,  raising  mausoleums  and  chapels  to 
them,  and  covering  their  monuments  with  sentimental 
epitaphs. 

"  It  is  a  proof  of  the  general  monotony  that  reigns  in  all  things 
here,  that  the  verst  stones  are  the  only  landmarks  in  this  desert.  People 
will  say,  for  instance,  '  We  are  living  this  year  in  the  Peterhof  road, 
at  the  seventh  verst  ; '  or  '  The  Orlof  Datscha  stands  at  the  eleventh 
verst  ; '  '  We  will  breakfast  at  the  traiteur's  at  the  fourteenth  verst  ;  ' 
as  if  these  milestones  were  pyramids.  But  so  it  is  ;  there  are  neither 
valleys,  brooks,  nor  smiling  villages  wherewith  to  distinguish  places  ; 
and  people  can  find  their  way  only  by  reckoning  the  mile- 
stones.' " — Kohl. 

The  fields  in  this  part  of  Russia  are  covered  in  summer 
with  "  Jean  Marie,"  a  pretty  yellow-rattle  with  a  plume 
of  blue  leaves  at  the  top  of  each  flower.  Later  the  mush- 
rooms are  abundant,  and  the  fungi,  which  seldom  seem 
to  be  poisonous  in  Russia,  and  are  in  great  request  with 
the  natives,  especially  one  which  tastes  like  meat,  and 
which  thus,  when  eaten  on  fast  days,  gives  all  the  pleasure 
of  committing  a  venial  sin  to  those  who  enjoy  it. 

Through  a  picturesque  brick  gateway,  thoroughly  bar- 
baric and  consequently  Russian  in  design,  we  enter  the 
monastery  of  Sergi,  occupied,  like  all  the  monasteries  in 
Russia,  by  monks  of  St.  Basil,  with  long  hair  ancl  beards. 


SERGf.  107 

Just  within  the  gateway  is  the  new  cathedral,  a  very  beau- 
tiful building,  entirely  created  at  the  expense  of  the 
exceedingly  rich  monks.  Its  marbles  were  all  found  in 
the  neighborhood  (bowlders  of  splendid  colored  marbles 
may  be  seen  all  over  the  fields)  and  cut  upon  the  spot. 
The  interior  is  exquisitely  harmonious,  with  lovely  effects 
of  golden  light  and  purple  shadow.  The  enameled  can- 
delabra are  splendid  of  their  kind.  The  frescoes  are  the 
work  of  a  devotional  German  artist,  and  are  an  advance 
upon  Russian  art,  which  has  maintained  that  the  style  of 
art  which  prevailed  in  the  tenth  century,  when  Russia 
first  received  the  Gospel,  and  which  found  its  full  develop- 
ment in  the  manuscripts  of  the  twelfth  century,  was  indi- 
visible from  the  sacred  subjects  of  Christianity,  and  has 
thus,  in  maintaining  the  Byzantine  forms,  interdicted  all 
exercise  of  original  power.  Indeed,  originality  in  art  was 
prohibited  by  the  State,  a  Grand-ducal  decree  of  1551 
requiring  that  all  sacred  pictures  should  thenceforth  be 
painted  on  the  model  of  those  of  Andrew  Rublof,  a 
monk  at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Viollet-le- 
Duc  thinks  that  the  ascetic  character  prescribed  for  the 
saints  in  the  icons  was  intended  to  inculcate  habits  of 
abstinence  and  temperance. 

Behind  the  new  is  the  old  cathedral,  with  many  quaint 
domes  and  minarets — Russian  fashion  ;  and  a  number  of 
other  churches.  A  crypted  hall  and  stair  lead  to  the 
chapter-house,  surrounded  by  carved  stalls,  and  supported 
by  eight  huge  granite  pillars,  each  hewn  from  a  single 
stone.  Below  are  the  graves  of  the  great  families  who 
have  the  right  of  separate  chapels  here — Apraxin,  Stro- 
ganof,  etc.  We  were  driven  from  the  Refectory  by  the 
overwhelming  smell  of  the  cabbage  soup  upon  which  the 
seventy-five  monks  had  been  regaling  themselves  ;  they 
are  always  forbidden  to  eat  meat.  The  gardens  are  full 
of  graves  ;  amongst  them  is  a  glass  house  containing  the 
tombs  of  the  Oldenburgs,  covered  with  flowers. 

By  the  side  of  the  gate  is  an  icon  shop,  where  you  may 
buy  little  figures  of  the  saints  painted  on  china — the  holy 
hermit  Arcino,  thirty  kopecks  ;  the  holy  Sergius,  sixty 
kopecks  ;  the  Saviour,  one  rouble.  Till  recently  Russians 
professed  never  to  sell  their  holy  images,  and,  though 
they  hawked  them  about  the  streets,  they  only  "  exchanged 


Io8  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

them  for  money  to  buy  other  saints  !  "  Almost  all  the 
monasteries  are  icon-manufactories,  and  the  artists  are 
all  monks  and  nuns.  Here,  as  near  all  the  great  monas- 
teries, a  great  traffic  in  tapers  is  carried  on — little,  thin, 
and  yellow,  or  large,  thick,  and  white,  according  to  the 
purse  and  piety  of  the  buyers.  The  churches  draw  a 
large  revenue  from  this,  especially  as  they  melt  down  the 
ends,  and  collect  the  drippings — for  fresh  tapers.  On 
great  holidays,  all  can  not  reach  their  favorite  icon,  and 
the  lights  are  seen  passing  from  hand  to  hand.  A  com- 
mission is  often  given  to  travelers,  "  Light  a  taper  of" 
forty  kopecks  for  me  before  St.  Sergius  of  Troitsa,  etc." 
No  fisherman  goes  to  sea,  no  traveler  starts,  no  robber 
goes  out  to  plunder,  no  murderer  commits  his  crime, 
without  lighting  a  taper  :  the  duty  is  as  indispensable  a 
prelude  to  evil  as  to  good  works. 

What  a  pretty  group  remains  with  us  as  a  picture 
connected  with  Sergi  ! — of  a  tall  priest  standing  in  the 
open  pillared  portico,  talking  to  a  lay  brother  on  the 
steps  beneath,  while  the  sunlight  played  through  his  long 
rippling  hair,  and  relieved  it  against  the  dark  back- 
ground. 

The  whole  neighborhood  is  indescribably  flat. 

"  Ici  la  terre  meme,  1'aspect  monotone  des  campagnes  commandant 
la  symetrie  :  1'absence  complete  de  mouvement  dans  un  terrain  par- 
tout  uni  et  le  plus  souvent  nu,  ce  manque  de  variete  dans  la  vegetation 
toujours  pauvre  des  terres  septentrionales,  le  defaut  absolu  d'accidents 
pittoresques  dans  d'eternelles  plaines  ou  Ton  dirait  qu'un  seul  site 
obsede  le  voyageur  et  le  poursuit  comme  un  reve  d'une  extremite  de 
1'empire  a  1'autre  ;  enfin,  tout  ce  que  Dieu  n'a  pas  fait  pour  ce  pays  y 
concourt  a  1'imperturbable  uniformite  de  la  vie-politique  et  sociale  des 
hommes." — M.  de  Cusline. 


The  palace  second  in  importance  is  that  of  Tzarskoe 
Selo,  "  the  Royal  Village,"  to  which  we  traveled  from  a 
fresh  station  across  a  flat  country,  characterized  by  the 
same  "  aspect  of  divine  sadness"  as  all  the  environs  of 
the  capital,  seeing  on  the  way  numbers  of  the  large  gray 
crows  called  "  Napoleon's  scavengers,"  asserted  to  have 
first  made  their  appearance  in  Russia  after  the  retreat  of 
the  French  from  Moscow,  and  to  have  abounded  in  the 


TZARSKOE  SELO.  109 

country  ever  since.  Tzarskoe  Selo  is  said  to  be  built  in 
the  Duderhof  Hills  (Duddergovski  Gori)  ;  though  where 
the  hills  are  it  would  be  difficult  to  say.  It  is  a  village 
of.  wooden  villas,  due  to  Catherine  II.,  who  called  it 
Sophia,  after  her  maiden  name.  She  intended  it  as  a 
kind  of  city  of  refuge  for  oppressed  serfs,  or  those  whose 
masters  refused  them  permission  to  purchase  their  free- 
dom ;  but  after  a  time  this  right  of  asylum  was  dises- 
tablished, because  it  was  found  that  none  but  the  idle 
and  profligate  took  advantage  of  it.1 

The  Palace  was  begun  by  Peter  the  Great  on  land 
which  he  had  given  to  Catherine  I.,  but  the  greater  part 
of  it  was  buiit  by  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  and  is  a  com- 
pound of  all  that  an  architect  ought  to  avoid  rather  than 
to  imitate.  Its  front,  covered  with  pillars  and  caryatides, 
was  once  profusely  gilded,  but  little  gilding  now  remains, 
except  on  the  crowns  and  domes  which  surmount  one 
of  its  towers.  There  is  no  comfort  in  the  rooms  of 
any  of  these  huge  imperial  residences  ;  here  the  vast 
interior  displays  every  form  of  magnificence,  and  an  equal 
amount  of  bad  taste.  Pictures  have  been  fitted  into  the 
panels  without  frames,  and  ruthlessly  cut  down  where 
they  did  not  fit.  One  room,  prepared  for  Prince  Potem- 
kin,  has  a  floor  inlaid  with  exotic  woods,  at  a  cost  of  a 
hundred  roubles  for  every  squared  archine.  Another 
room  is  entirely  coated  with  amber  presented  by  Fred- 
erick the  Great,  the  raised  parts  of  the  amber  being 
transparent.  Over  and  over  again  we  see  here,  in  their 
portraits,  the  five  most  familiar  faces  of  the  imperial 
family.  Peter  the  Great,  "  the  terrible  hammer  of  which 
Russia  was  the  anvil,"  is  represented  in  many  different 
attitudes  and  uniforms.  The  portraits  of  Catherine  I. 
all  show  her  humble  origin,  which  did  not  prevent  her 
influence  over  her  husband.  "  I  know  well  my  faults," 
he  said,  "  my  outbursts  of  passion  ;  and  therefore  it  is 
that  I  wish  to  have  some  one  near  me  like  my  Catherine, 
who  will  warn  and  correct  me.  I  can  reform  my  people  ; 
I  can  not  reform  myself."  3  Anne  of  Courland,  Peter's 
ugly  niece,  contrasts  with  his  handsome  daughter  Eliza- 
beth, though  the  charms  of  both  are  equally  praised  in  the 

1  Swinton's  Travels^  1792. 

2  Stahlin,  83. 


1 1  o  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

verses  of  the  flatterer  Lomonossof,  son  of  a  fisherman  of 
Archangel,  who  made  his  way  on  a  wagon  of  fish  to 
Moscow,  and  became  there  one  of  the  most  voluminous  of 
Russian  writers.  Lastly,  we  have  the  astute  and  vicious 
Catherine  II.,  the  "  Felitza  "  of  Derjavine,  who  was  the 
laureate  of  her  age. 

Tzarskoe  Selo,  more  than  any  other  of  the  palaces,  is 
connected  with  the  private  history  of  Catherine  II.,  whose 
bonhomie  and  charm,  as  well  as  her  public  character,  threw 
a  veil  even  over  her  vices.  The  Empress  Elizabeth  had 
insisted  upon  the  most  rigid  observance  of  court  etiquette. 
It  is  recorded  that  one  day  she  received  at  her  toilet  a 
lady  of  the  court,  who  with  great  difficulty  continued 
standing.  Elizabeth  at  last  perceived  her  uneasiness, 
and  asked  what  was  the  matter  with  her.  "  My  legs  are 
very  much  swelled."  "  Well,  well,  lean  against  that  ' 
bureau  !  I  will  make  as  if  I  did  not  see  you." '  Cath- 
erine went  into  quite  the  opposite  extreme  in  her  good- 
nature and  kindheartedness,  and  her  courtiers,  especially 
such  as  were  her  lovers,  took  great  advantage  of  it.  It 
is  recorded  that  when  Gregory  Orlof  was  summoned  to 
council  whilst  he  was  playing  at  cards,  he  refused  to  go. 
When  the  messenger  humbly  asked  what  excuse  he  should 
take  back,  he  told  him  to  look  for  it  in  the  Bible.  Being 
asked  where,  "  In  the  first  Psalm  and  in  the  first  verse — 
Beatus  vir  qui  non  abiit  in  consilio  impiorum  !  "  Here 
one  after  another  of  the  favorites  of  Catherine  were 
changed  from  lovers  into  adopted  sons.  It  was  at  Tzarskoe 
Selo  that  Catherine  shut  herself  up  for  three  months  after 
the  death  (1784)  of  her  young  favorite  Lanskoi,  who 
expired  in  her  arms,  bequeathing  the  whole  of  his  vast 
fortune  to  the  Empress,  who  gave  it  up  to  his  sisters. 
She  erected  a  beautiful  mausoleum  in  the  grounds  to 
his  memory,  which,  even  two  years  after,  she  could  not 
pass  without  floods  of  tears. 

"  When  her  majesty  had  fixed  her  choice  on  a  new  favorite,  she 
created  him  her  general  aid-de-camp,  in  order  that  he  might  accom- 
pany her  everywhere  without  attracting  reproach  or  inviting  observa- 
tion. Thenceforward  the  favorite  occupied  in  the  palace  an  apartment 
beneath  that  of  the  empress,  to  which  it  communicated  by  a  private 
staircase.  The  first  day  of  his  installation  he  received  a  present  of  a 

I  Notes  to  Tooke's  Catherine  I  I. 


TZARSKOE  SELO.  Ill 

hundred  thousand  roubles,  and  every  month  he  found  twelve  thousand 
on  his  dressing-table.  The  marshal  of  the  court  was  commissioned  to 
provide  him  a  table  of  twenty-four  covers,  and  to  defray  all  the  ex- 
penses of  his  household.  The  favorite  attended  the  empress  on  all 
parties  of  amusement,  at  the  opera,  at  balls  and  promenades,  excursions 
of  pleasure,  and  the  like,  and  was  not  allowed  to  leave  the  palace 
without  express  permission.  He  was  given  to  understand,  that  it 
would  not  be  taken  well  if  he  conversed  familiarly  with  other  women  ; 
and  if  he  went  to  dine  with  any  of  his  friends,  the  mistress  of  the 
house  was  always  absent." — Tookes  "  Life  of  Catherine  II" 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  illiterate  character  of  several 
of  the  favorites  of  Catherine,  that  Rimsky  Korsakof,  who 
succeeded  Zoritz  in  her  affections,  sent  for  a  bookseller 
to  arrange  a  library  for  him — "  Little  books  above  and 
great  books  below."  Still,  in  the  reign  of  Catherine, 
Russian  literature  made  great  progress  ;  and  Derjavine, 
"the  bard  of  Catherine  II.,"  recited  many  of  his  poems 
here.  One  of  the  poems  which  afterward  first  drew 
attention  to  the  genius  of  the  famous  Pouchkine  was  his 
"  Recollections  of  Tsarskoe  Selo." 

The  size  of  the  grounds  at  Tzarskoe  Selo  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  six  hundred  gardeners  are 
employed  there,  though  certainly  Russian  workmen  do 
not  accomplish  much.  Here,  as  well  as  in  the  gardens 
at  Oranienbaum  and  Peterhof,  visitors  are  comically 
warned  away  from  the  central  gate  and  the  central 
walk.  These  are  reserved  for  the  imperial  family  and 
must  be  profaned  by  no  more  humble  foot.  A  triumphal 
arch  was  built  by  Alexander  I.  after  his  return  from 
France.  The  gardens  of  Tzarskoe  Selo  also  contain  an 
immense  lake,  with  a  beautiful  Palladian  summer-house 
on  its  banks,  and  a  very  pretty  mosque-like  building, 
with  a  golden  roof,  at  its  extremity,  now  used  as  the 
Imperial  Bath.  Here  the  young  Grand-Duchess  Alex- 
andrine used  to  feed  her  swans.  In  spite  of  the  plague 
of  musquitoes  which  is  such  a  scourge  to  those  who  visit 
these  gardens  in  summer,  all  the  gay  world  of  St.  Peters- 
burg assembles  on  the  shores  of  the  lake  for  the  fetes  of 
the  summer  regatta. 

"  La  flotille  de  Tsarskoe-Selo  est  une  chose  bien  curieuse.  Elle  a 
son  amiral, — non  pas  un  amiral  d'eau  douce,  s'il  vous  plait !  Ce  ser- 
vice est  d'ordinaire  confie  a  quelque  officier  de  marine,  en  recompense 


112  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA  . 

d'une  action  d'e'clat  ou  11  a  ete  blesse  assez  grievement  pour  etre  exclu 
du  service  actif. 

"  La  flotte  de  Tsarskoe-Se'lo  se  compose  de  tous  les  modeles  d'em- 
barcations  legeres  employees  dans  1'etendue  de  I'emrjire.  Tout  s'y 
trouve,  depuis  la  perissoire  en  acajou,  le  podoscaphe  elegant,  depuis 
la  peniche  reglementaire,  le  youyou,  la  simple  barque  plate  ou  les 
mamans  ne  craignent  pas  de  s'embarquer,  jusqu'a  la  barque  des  Esqui- 
maux en  peau  de  veau  marin,  jusqu'a  la  jonque  chinoise  qui  s'aventure 
dans  les  eaux  de  1'Amour,  jusqu'a  1'embarcation  Kamtchedale,  etroite 
et  baroque,  jusqu'a  la  longue  pirogue,  maintenue  en  equilibre  par  des 
perches  transversales.  Les  modeles  originaux,  amenes  a  grands  frais 
des  plus  lointaines  extremites  de  1'empire,  sont  conserves  dans  une 
sorte  de  musee,  auquel  a  ete  assignee  pour  demeure  une  espece  de 
chateau  assez  laid  en  briques  brunes,  flanque  de  deux  pseudo-tours 
rondes  ;  mais  les  copies  de  ces  modeles  sont  a  la  disposition  des  ama- 
teurs. On  peut,  a  toute  heure  du  jour,  s'embarquer  seul  sur  le  navire 
de  son  choix,  ou  se  faire  promener  pendant  une  heure  sur  les  flots 
limpides  du  lac  ;  tout  cela  gratis  ;  libre  au  promeneur  genereux  de 
recompenser  le  matelot  qui  lui  presente  la  gaffe  et  1'amarre,  ou  qui 
rame  pour  lui  sous  les  ardeurs  du  soleil,  pendant  qu'un  dais  de  toile 
protege  les  belles  dames  ou  les  elegants  officiers."  —  Henry  GrJville, 


Heber,  who  visited  Russia  in  1805,  describes  the  situa- 
tion of  Tzarskoe  Selo  as  "  the  most  dirty  and  boggy  con- 
ceivable," but  the  trees  and  shrubberies  have  grown  and 
prospered  since  that  time,  and  the  park  affords  a  great 
variety  of  charming  walks  and  drives.  One  part  of  the 
domain  is  laid  out  in  imitation  of  China,  with  curious 
Chinese  bridges  over  the  .straight  canals  ;  and  there  is 
an  absurd  Chinese  village,  inhabited  by  gardeners  and 
workmen.  A  hideous  modern  building,  with  a  tall 
tower,  is  called  the  Arsenal,  and  contains  a  most  glorious 
collection  of  armor,  including  that  of  Charles  V.,  and 
many  diamonded  saddle-cloths  and  trappings  given  to 
the  Tsars  by  Eastern  Khans.  Numbers  of  historic  relics 
are  also  preserved  here,  including  the  cane  of  Catherine 
II.  and  a  little  sword  which  she  made  out  of  a  large  pin 
for  her  grandson  Alexander  I.  as  a  child.  In  another 
part  of  the  grounds  is  a  ludicrous  ruin,  where  milk  is  sold 
to  visitors,  and  where  a  succession  of  ladders  leads  to  a 
room  which  contains  a  flippant,  effeminate  figure  of 
Christ,  by  the  over-praised  Dannecker.  But  most  of  the 
grounds  are  a  monotone  of  quiet  beauty  —  groups  of  self- 
sown  birches  and  pines,  giant  larkspurs  and  hemlocks, 
and  fresh,  grassy  lawns.  Till  the  recent  times  of  Nihil- 


TZARSKOE  SELO.  113 

ism,  the  Emperors  have  been  accustomed  to  walk  unat- 
tended in  the  grounds  of  Tzarskoe  Selo.  Joyneville's 
"  Life  of  Alexander  I."  narrates  how  an  English  lady 
was  walking  with  some  friends  in  these  gardens,  when 
two  dogs,  running  by  the  side  of  a  gentleman  at  a  little 
distance,  came  toward  her,  and  much  frightened  her. 
Their  master  called  them  away,  and  then  came  up, 
bowed,  and  apologized,  and  was  going  to  walk  on,  when 
she,  being  a  stranger,  and  anxious  to  know  the  names  of 
the  various  buildings  in  sight,  detained  him  to  ask  a  few 
questions.  He  told  her  the  history  of  the  various  monu- 


THE   IMPERIAL   BATH,   TZARSKOE  SELO. 

ments,  and  was  again  about  to  withdraw,  when  she  said, 
"  But  I  want  most  of  all  to  see  the  Emperor  ;  where  am 
I  likely  to  do  so  ?  "  "  Oh,  you  are  certain  to  see  him 
soon  enough,  madam,"  he  said  ;  "  he  often  walks  here  ;  " 
and,  bowing,  he  retired  into  the  neighboring  shrubbery. 
A  little  further  on  she  met  a  court-official,  and  inquired 
who  the  officer  was,  describing  his  dogs  and  that  he  was 
deaf.  "  That  was  the  Emperor,"  he  said  ;  "  I  saw  him 
myself  a  few  minutes  ago." 

Near  Tzarskoe  Selo,  as  near  Peterhof,  are  a  number  of 


1 1 4  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

smaller  palaces  belonging  to  different  members  of  the 
imperial  family,  who  have  become  very  numerous  in  the 
present  century. 

"  L'imperatrice  a  donne  trop  d'idoles  a  la  Russia,  trop  d'enfants  a 
1'empereur.  S'epuiser  en  grands-dues,  quelle  destinee  !  " — Custine. 

The  immensity  of  the  imperial  parks  is  seen  during  the 
drive  to  Pawlovski,  the  pretty  park  and  porticoed  palace 
of  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine.  This  palace  was  fur- 
nished with  the  treasures  of  the  Michael  Palace,  where 
the  Emperor  Paul  was  murdered,  and  became  the  favor- 
ite residence  of  his  widow,  the  Empress  Marie,  who 
secluded  herself  here. 

"  Elle  se  crea  a  Pawlovski  une  existence  a  part.  Une  bibliotheque 
riche  d'editions  rares  et  de  productions  nouvelles,  des  tables  d'acajou 
chargees  de  dessins  ou  de  medailles,  des  collections  de  camees  ou  de 
pierres  fines  gravees  de  sa  propremain,  indiquaient,  au  premier  regard, 
ses  habitudes  serieuses."  ' — Vie  de  Madam  Swetchine. 

Between  the  station  and  Pawlovski,  of  which  the  park 
is  more  varied  in  its  natural  features  than  most,  is  a  great 
restaurant,  which  is  illuminated  with  colored  lamps  in  the 
evening,  when  a  band  plays,  and  immense  numbers  of 
people  come  out  from  St.  Petersburg  to  be  amused  for 
hours  by — next  to  nothing  at  all. 

Strangers  who  can  do  so  should  not  fail  to  see  a  review 
at  the  Camp  at  Krasnoe  Stto.  The  Empress  and  her 
ladies  are  present  in  white  dresses  with  white  bouquets. 
After  all  is  over,  and  the  Metropolitan  gives  his  benedic- 
tion, the  Emperor  kisses  his  hand,  then  the  Empress,  then 
the  Grand-Dukes  in  succession,  and  finally  they  all  fol- 
low the  prelate,  as  he  passes  in  front  of  the  troops, 
sprinkling  them  with  holy  water.  The  singing  of  the 
Russian  national  hymn,  Boje  Tsar  chrani,  composed  by 
General  Lwoff,  is  often  very  magnificent. 


Beyond  the  suburbs  of  St.  Alexander  Nevskoi,  at  St. 
Petersburg,  are  the  warehouses  of  grain  ;  whole  streets  of 
them  stand  by  the  side  of  the  river.  Every  roof,  every 

i  The  Empress  Marie  obtained  real  celebrity  as  a  medalist  ;   the  head  of  Paul, 
in  the  Academy  of  Arts,  is  her  finest  work. 


THE  NEVA.  115 

parapet,  and  the  roadway  itself  are  covered  with  pigeons, 
which  are  permitted  to  multiply  to  any  extent,  and  are 
never  killed,  for  fear  the  Holy  Ghost  should  be  shot  by 
mistake.  We  embarked  here  on  a  steamer  for  Schlussel- 
burg,  and  thus  we  saw  the  whole  length  of  the  Neva  above 
the  capital,  one  of  the  most  important,  though  one  of  the 
shortest,  rivers  of  Europe.  The  scenery,  as  usual,  is 
flat  and  melancholy. 

"  Je  n'ai  rencontre  aux  approches  d'aucune  grand  ville  rien  d'aussi 
triste  que  les  bords  de  la  Neva.  La  campagne  de  Rome  est  un  desert ; 
mais  que  d'accidents  pittoresques,  que  de  souvenirs,  que  de  lumiere, 
que  de  feu,  que  de  poesie  !  Avant  Petersbourg,  on  traverse  un  desert 
d'eau  encadre  par  un  desert  de  tourbe  :  mers,  cotes,  ciel,  tout  se  con- 
fond  ;  c'est  une  glace,  mais  si  terne,  si  morne,  qu'on  dirait  que  le  cristal 
n'en  est  point  etame  ;  cela  ne  reflete  rien." — M.  de  Custine. 

A  number  of  manufactories  stand  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  near  the  capital.  The  duties  on  that  for  playing- 
cards  go  to  support  the  Foundling  Hospital,  toward 
which  the  theaters  also  pay  a  percentage.  Here  and 
there  are  villages,  long  lines  of  wooden  cottages,  black 
from  the  effects  of  the  weather,  with  rude  lace  in  wood 
fringing  their  gables.  In  August  and  September  the 
forests  near  the  upper  part  of  the  Neva  are  much  resorted 
to  by  sportsmen  for  the  sake  of  the  double  snipe,  or  the 
gelinotte,  which  is  something  between  a  grouse  and  a 
partridge,  and  lives  upon  the  young  fir-shoots,  from 
which  it  obtains  a  flavor  of  turpentine.  Russian  legend 
tells  us  that  it  was  once  the  finest  bird  in  the  forest,  but 
it  rebelled  against  the  great  spirit,  so  a  portion  of  its 
breast  was  taken  away  and  given  to  the  blackcock, 
which  has  to  this  day  a  breast  of  a  different  color  from 
the  rest  of  its  plumage. 

In  winter  these  forests  are  the  scenes  of  numerous 
bear-hunts,  full  of  thrilling  adventure.  The  solitary  tall 
tree  which  rises  conspicuously  from  the  woods  opposite 
Schliisselburg  is  left  as  a  landmark  to  guide  the  hunters. 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  adventures  and  escapes 
during  a  bear-hunt  was  that  of  Mr.  Morgan,  a  much- 
respected  English  merchant  at  St.  Petersburg,  who  in  his 
youth,  not  very  long  ago,  was  one  of  the  handsomest 
young  men  in  Russia.  He  was  very  fond  of  bear-hunt- 
ing on  the  ice,  but  there  was  one  bear  so  ferocious 


1 16  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

no  one  would  venture  to  go  and  kill  it.  At  last  Mr. 
Morgan  persuaded  three  peasants  to  go  with  him.  The 
hunters  wear  long  boots  on  the  ice,  fastened  to  pieces  of 
wood  several  feet  in  length,  and  the  wood  is  on  rollers. 
Then  they  stride  out,  and  away  they  go  at  fifty  miles  an 
hour.  Mr.  Morgan  was  rushing  thus  along  the  ice  and 
the  peasants  after  him,  when  out  came  the  bear.  He 
fired,  and  the  animal  fell.  Then,  thinking  the  bear  was 
mortally  wounded,  he  discharged  his  other  pistol,  and, 
immediately  after,  the  bear  jumped  up  and  rushed  at 
him.  He  had  given  his  knife  to  one  peasant  and  his 
stick  to  another  to  hold,  and,  when  he  looked  round,  both 
the  peasants  had  fled,  and  he  was  quite  defenseless.  In 
his  boots  he  could  not  turn,  he  could  only  make  a  circuit, 
so  he  jumped  outoi  them  and  tried  to  sink  into  the  snow. 
He  sank,  but  unfortunately  not  entirely,  for  the  top  of 
his  head  remained  above  the  snow.  The  bear  came  and 
tore  off  the  top  of  his  head  and  both  his  eyelids,  then  it 
hobbled  away  ;  but  the  cold  was  so  great  Mr.  Morgan 
scarcely  felt  any  pain.  By  and  by  the  peasants  returned, 
and  he  heard  them  say,  "  There  is  the  bear,  sunk  into  the 
snow  ;  now  we  can  kill  him."  Then  Mr.  Morgan  called 
out,  "  Oh  no,  indeed,  I  am  not  the  bear,"  and  they  came 
and  dug  him  out.  But  when  they  saw  what  a  state  he 
was  in,  they  said,  "  Well,  now  it  is  evident  that  you  must 
die,  so  we  must  leave  you,  but  we  will  make  you  a  fire 
that  you  may  die  comfortably,  for,  as  for  carrying  you 
four  days'  journey  back  to  St.  Petersburg,  that  is  quite 
impossible." 

But  Mr.  Morgan  offered  the  peasants  so  large  a  reward 
if  they  would  only  take  him  to  some  refuge,  that  at  last 
they  consented,  and  they  picked  up  the  eyelids  too,  and 
carried  them  to  a  neighboring  house.  There,  the  old 
woman  of  the  place,  when  she  saw  the  eyelids,  said  :  "  Oh, 
I  will  make  that  all  right,"  and  she  stuck  them  on  ;  but 
she  stuck  them  on  the  wrong  sides,  and  they  continued 
wrong  as  long  as  Mr.  Morgan  lived. 

Schlusselburg  is  a  pleasant  little  town  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  river,  where  it  joins  the  vast  Lake  Ladoga,  which 
is  130  miles  long  and  2,000  English  square  miles  in 
dimensions.  The  source  of  the  river  is  under  the  water. 
When  the  west  wind  blows,  and  the  waters  of.  the  lake 


SCHLUSSELBERG.  H7 

flow  back,  the  emissary  becomes  shallow  and  the  source 
is  visible.  It  is  then  known  at  Schliisselburg  that  the 
same  wind  must  have  driven  the  waters  of  the  Gulf  of 
Finland  into  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  that  St.  Peters- 
burg is  under  water.  In  spite  of  the  troubled  river 
Volkof  falling  into  Lake  Ladoga,  its  waters  are  marvel- 
ously  clear,  and  they  are  always  cold  ;  in  tempests  they 
rage  like  the  sea. 

"A  1'origine,  dit  la  tradition,  le  Ladoga  etait  un  lac  aux  eaux  iran- 
quilles,  qui  ne  connaissait  pas  les  orages  ;  mais,  depuis  qu'un  jour  le 
courroux  divin  1'avait  souleve  centre  une  race  impie  de  mortels,  il 
n'avait  plus  retrouve  le  repos  :  meme  par  un  temps  calme,  ses  vagues 
etaient  bouleversees  par  des  tempetes  interieures.  Cette  frenesie  dura 
jusqu'a  Pierre  le  Grand.  Alors,  '  alors  di  Piter  (Saint-Petersbourg) 
Pierre  I  s'embarqua  sur  la  Neva  et  sur  le  Ladoga  ;  tout  a  coup  la 
tempete  s'eleve,  une  bourrasque,  un  orage  epouvantable.  A  grand' 
peine,  ils  arriverent  au  nez  de  Storojevski.  Le  tsar  debarqua.  En- 
toure  des  flots,  la  tete  lui  tourna  de  voir  la  mer  bleue.  "  Allons,  toi, 
mere  humide,  la  terre  !  ne  t'agite  pas,  ne  prends  pas  example  sur  ce 
stupide  lac?"  Aussitot  il  ordonna  de  knottier  et  de  foutter  les  vagues 
unices.  Le  lieu  ou  il  les  fustigea  de  ses  mains  impe'riales  s'appelait 
r Ecueil  sec,  et  dupuis  ce  temps  on  1'appelle  FEc ueil  du  tsar.  Depuis 
lors  le  Ladoga  est  devenu  plus  paisible  ;  il  a  ses  jours  de  calme  comme 
les  autres  lacs.'  " — 'Alfred  Rambaud,  "  La  Russie  Epique" 

The  sea  fish  and  shells  in  Lake  Ladoga  prove  that  it 
was  once  a  gulf  of  the  Baltic.  Near  its  further  extremity 
is  the  island  convent  of  Valamo,  to  which  refractory 
monks  are  sent  as  a  penance.  No  female  is  ever  per- 
mitted to  land  upon  its  shores,  and  it  is  said  that  even  a 
hen  is  never  permitted  to  exist  there.  Deep  water  sur- 
rounds the  island,  and  rare  plants  flourish  upon  it,  which 
will  grow  nowhere  else  in  northern  Russia. 

There  is  no  poverty  in  Schlusselburg,  owing  to  the 
cotton  factory  of  Messrs.  Parish  &  Hubbard,  whose 
pretty  gardens  rise  above  the  river  bank,  but  the  Russians 
are  such  hopeless  thieves  that  it  is  necessary  to  examine 
every  workman  in  the  factory  every  time  he  passes  out 
of  the  gate.  They  are  forced  to  lift  up  their  arms,  for 
they  are  wont  to  conceal  handkerchiefs,  etc.,  by  wrapping 
them  around  them.  The  church  of  many  domes,  all 
different  in  design,  has  a  fine  new  bell,  which  was  pre- 
sented by  the  English  manufacturers  and  hoisted  into  its 
place  by  the  whole  population.  Such  a  large  village 


1 1 8  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

church  as  this  is  always  full  of  human  interest,  and  is  the 
dumb  witness  of  every  varied  human  emotion.  It  is  of 
such  a  one  that  Tourgueneff  writes  :— 

"  He  reached  the  church  early.  There  was  scarcely  any  one  there  : 
the  sacristan,  standing  in  the  choir,  was  repeating  the  psalms  of  the 
day  ;  his  voice,  broken  now  and  then  by  a  cough,  seemed  to  beat  time, 
falling  and  rising  in  turn.  Lavretsky  remained  near  the  entrance. 
The  faithful  arrived  one  after  the  other,  stopped,  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  and  saluted  on  every  side  ;  their  steps  echoed  under  the  arches. 
An  infirm  old  woman,  dressed  in  a  hooded  cloak,  continued  kneeling 
by  the  side  of  Lavretsky,  and  prayed  fervently  ;  her  yellow  and 
wrinkled  face,  her  toothless  mouth,  expressed  the  deepest  emotion  ; 
her  red  eyes  were  fixed,  immovable,  upon  the  images  of  the  iconastos  ; 
her  bony  hand  constantly  came  out  from  under  her  cloak,  as,  slowly, 
and  with  a  harsh  gesture,  she  crossed  herself  conspicuously.  A  peasant 
with  a  heavy  beard  and  repulsive  countenance,  his  hair  and  clothes  in 
disorder,  entered  the  church,  flung  himself  on  his  knees,  with  numerous 
signs  of  the  cross,  shaking  his  head  and  throwing  himself  backward, 
after  prostrating  to  the  earth.  Such  bitter  grief  was  depicted  on  his 
features  and  in  each  of  his  movements,  that  Lavretsky  approached 
him,  and  asked  what  ailed  him.  The  peasant  drew  back  half  timidly, 
half  rudely  ;  then  looking  at  him  :  '  My  son  is  dead,'  he  said  in  a  hol- 
low tone,  and  he  began  to  prostrate  himself  again." — A  Retreat  of 
Gentlefolks. 

In  a  glass  house,  on  the  shore  of  the  lake,  is  preserved 
that  boat  of  Peter  the  Great  in  which  he  was  nearly  lost 
on  Lake  Ladoga,  as  is  represented  in  painting  and  sculp- 
ture at  Tzarskoe  Selo.  The  houses  of  the  prosperous- 
looking  village  are  chiefly  of  wood  and  rather  picturesque, 
but  a  summer  visit  to  a  Russian  village  can  give  little  idea 
of  the  life  there  through  the  winter  months  which  occupy 
so  far  the  longer  portion  of  the  year.  Throughout  the 
greater  part  of  the  country  the  peasants  sleep  away  their 
winters  like  dormice.  The  heat  is  tremendous  in  their 
little  rooms,  hermetically  sealed  from  the  air,  as  about  a 
quarter  of  the  room  is  occupied  by  the  stove,  a  sort  of 
brick  oven,  flat  at  the  top,  the  actual  chimney  being  a 
mere  flue  ;  but  on  to  the  top  of  the  stove  the  inhabitants 
climb,  and  there  they  slumber  away  life.  For  those  who 
can  not  find  room  on  the  stove,  a  shelf  often  surrounds 
the  room,  on  which  twenty  persons  will  often  sleep  uncon- 
cernedly without  lying  down,  and  with  their  legs  hanging. 
Even  if  they  do  go  to  bed,  the  peasants  seldom  take  off 
their  clothes.  Sometimes  two  women  will  sleep  at  each 
of  a  bed,  with  their  clothes  on, 


VILLAGE  LIFE. 


119 


The  only  domestic  enlivenment  of  the  months  of  snow  is 
found  in  the  Besyedy — winter  parties  which  meet  at  sunset. 
They  are  of  three  kinds  :  first  for  the  married  women,  to 
chatter  and  gossip  ;  secondly  for  the  adults,  who  some- 
times sing  and  often  flirt ;  but  thirdly  and  most  frequently 
for  the  children,  when  the  girls  spin,  and  the  boys  make 
bafti^  but  all  talk  incessantly,  unless  they  are  listening  to 
some  old  woman,  who  tells  them  stories. 

"  At  the  first  glance  there  is  something  extremely  repulsive  in  the 
Russian  Moujik.  His  hair  is  long  and  shaggy,  and  so  is  his  beard : 
his  person  is  dirty  ;  he  is  always  noisy  ;  and  when  wrapped  up  in  his 


,v- 


SCHLCSSELBURG. 


sheepskin  he  certainly  presents  a  figure  more  suitable  for  a  bandit  or 
murderer  than  for  a  man  devoted  to  peaceable  occupations.  This 
apparent  rudeness,  however,  is  less  a  part  of  the  man  himself  than  of 
his  hair  and  beard,  of  his  shaggy  sheepskin,  and  the  loud,  deep  tones 
of  his  voice.  The  stranger  who  is  able  to  address  him  with  kindness 
in  his  native  language,  soon  discovers  in  the  Moujik  a  good-humored, 
friendly,  harmless,  and  serviceable  creature.  '  Sdrastvuitye ,  brat? 
( iood-day,  brother  ;  how  goes  it  ? '  '  Sdrastvuitye,  batiushka,  good- 
day,  little  father  ;  thank  God,  it  goes  well  with  me.  What  is  your 
pleasure  ?  How  can  I  serve  you  ? '  and  at  these  words  his  face  unbends 

i  Birch  bark  slippers. 


120  S  TUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A. 

into  a  simpering  smile,  the  hat  is  taken  off,  the  glove  drawn  from  the 
hand,  bow  follows  bow,  and  he  will  catch  your  hand  with  native  polite- 
ness and  good-humored  cordiality.  With  admirable  patience  he  will 
then  afford  the  required  information  in  its  minutest  details  ;  and  this 
the  more  willingly  as  he  feels  flattered  by  the  interrogation,  and  is 
pleased  by  the  opportunity  to  assume  the  office  of  instructor.  A  few 
words  are  often  enough  to  draw  from  him  a  torrent  of  eloquence. 

41  Englishmen  are  too  apt  to  attribute  the  courtesy  of  the  Russian  to 
a  slavish  disposition,  but  the  courteous  manner  in  which  two  Russian 
peasants  are  sure  to  salute  each  other  when  they  meet  can  not  be  the 
result  of  fears  engendered  by  social  tyranny.  On  the  contrary,  a  spirit 
of  genuine  politeness  pervades  all  classes,  the  highest  as  well  as  the 
lowest." — Kohl. 

The  chief  person  in  every  village  is  its  Elder,  or  Selski 
Starosta,  and  its  affairs  are  managed  by  the  Selski  Skhod, 
or  village  assembly.  The  authority  of  the  Starosta  is 
limited  by  the  heads  of  households.  No  peasant  can  leave 
his  native  place  without  the  consent  of  the  commune,  and 
he  can  always  be  recalled  by  a  communal  decree,  but  if  he 
sends  home  his  taxes  regularly,  this  is  seldom  likely  to 
occur.  The  principle  of  the  Russian  commune  appears 
in  every  social  relation,  and  even  in  each  room  of  a  prison, 
where  three  or  four  are  assembled,  a  Starosta  is  at  once 
appointed  to  maintain  order  and  exact  obedience.  In  a 
household  the  same  kind  of  system  prevails,  all  the  sons 
and  daughters-in-law  usually  living  in  perfect  harmony 
with  their  parents,  the  Bolshak,  or  "  Big  One,"  ruling,  and 
keeping  a  common  purse,  which  is  the  family  treasury,  as 
in  the  farms  on  the  Mezzaria  system  in  Italy. 

The  commune  has  the  right  of  distributing  the  com- 
munal lands,  which  are  divided  according  to  the  numbers 
of  "  revision  souls,"  a  system  which  has  often  very  harsh 
results,  as  a  widow  with  little  children  may  receive  the 
same  as  a  man  with  strong,  able-bodied  sons,  and  the  same 
taxes  have  to  be  paid  on  bad  as  on  good  land,  when  the 
distribution  has  once  been  made.  A  division  of  land 
always  lasts  till  a  new  revision,  which  only  takes  place 
once  in  every  fifteen  years,  and  in  that  time  the  circum- 
stances of  the  families  entirely  change.  By  the  Russian 
communal  system,  one  half  of  all  the  arable  land  in  the 
empire  is  now  reserved  to  the  peasantry,  who  comprise 
five-sixths  of  the  population.  Communal  meetings  are 
held  in  the  open  air,  and  generally  on  Sundays.  When 


THE  MIR.  I*  I 

women  are  heads  of  households,  they  are  present.  From 
the  fact  of  the  heads  of  households  meeting  frequently  in 
assembly  it  results  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  a  Russian 
village  have  some  acquaintance  with  one  another,  which 
is  far  from  being  the  case  in  England.  The  popular 
name  of  the  communal  assembly  is  the  Mir. 

"  The  Russian  word  J/z>has  a  different  signification  in  the  language 
of  business,  the  law  and  of  the  educated  classes,  from  what  it  has 
in  that  of  the  people.  In  the  first  case  it  is  identical  with  the  French 
word  Commune,  being  the  aggregate  of  persons  living  together  in  the 
same  place,  the  police  jurisdiction  of  a  city,  town,  or  village  ;  but  the 
meaning  is  quite  different  in  the  common  conception  of  the  people. 
Even  the  literal  signification  of  the  word  Mir  indicates  the  sacredness 
of  the  idea,  denoting  both  the  Commune  and  the  World  ;  the  Greek 
Cosmos  is  the  only  equivalent  to  the  Russian  word.  The  Russian 
language  has  a  great  number  of  proverbs  in  which  the  power,  rights 
and  sacredness  of  the  Commune  are  recognized  : — 

God  alone  directs  the  Mir. 

The  Mir  is  great. 

The  Mir  is  the  surging  billow. 

The  neck  and  shoulders  of  the  Mir  are  broad. 

Throw  every  thing  upon  the  Mir,  it  will  carry  it  all. 

The  tear  of  the  Mir  is  liquid,  but  sharp. 

The  Mir  sighs,  and  the  rock  is  rent  asunder. 

The  Mir  sobs,  and  it  re-echoes  in  the  forest. 

Trees  are  felled  in  the  forest,  and  splinters  fly  in  the  Mir. 

A  thread  of  the  Mir  becomes  a  shirt  for  the  naked. 

No  one  in  the  world  can  separate  from  the  Mir. 

What  belongs  to  the  Mir  belongs  also  to  the  mother's  little  son. 

What  is  decided  by  the  Mir  must  come  to  pass. 

The  Mir  is  answerable  for  the  country's  defense." 

Haxthausen,  "  The  Russian  Empire" 

Russian  peasants  are  always  exceedingly  ceremonious 
and  civil  to  each  other,  and  take  off  their  caps  to  one  of 
their  own  class,  while  prostrating  to  a  person  of  distinc- 
tion. Every  peasant  visitor,  however,  will  make  a  point 
of  saluting  the  family  icon,  before  addressing  the  family. 
On  going  to  rest  or  rising,  all  the  inhabitants  of  a  house 
salute  the  domestic  icon,  crossing  themselves  frequently, 
bowing,  and  even  prostrating  themselves. 

In  every  Russian  peasant  family  the  icon  represents 
the  family  Bible,  the  wedding  gift,  the  birthday  present, 
the  ancestral  portrait.  In  national  life  it  is  the  watch- 
word, the  flag  which  has  supported  the  courage  of  gen- 
erals and  roused  the  patriotism  of  troops.  In  a  room, 


122  S  T  UDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

the  sacred  picture  always  occupies  the  corner,  because  it 
is  the  place  of  honor.  Formerly  icons  were  made  of  the 
same  size  as  newly-born  babies  and  hung  up  in  the 
church  of  their  patron  saint.  An  icon  of  this  nature 
was  called  the  Obraz.  If  the  child  afterward  died,  any 
jewel  or  trinket  which  might  have  adorned  it  was 
bestowed  upon  the  obraz.  Persons  who  are  regular  at 
church,  observe  all  the  fasts,  make  pilgrimages,  and, 
above  all,  who  never  pass  an  icon  without  crossing  them- 
selves, are  supposed  to  do  all  that  is  necessary  for  salva- 
tion. At  a  railway  station  it  is  often  startling  to  see  people 
hurrying  in  with  their  handbags  and  baskets,  and  then, 
just  as  they  are  about  to  take  their  tickets,  fall  flat  down 
upon  the  floor.  They  have  seen  the  icon  behind  the 
ticket-vendor's  head. 

"  The  Muscovites  are  vastly  attached  to  the  love  of  pictures,  neither 
regarding  the  beauty  of  the  painting  nor  the  skill  of  the  painter,  for 
with  them  a  beautiful  and  an  ugly  painting  are  all  one,  and  they  honor 
and  bow  to  them  perpetually,  though  the  figure  be  only  a  daub  of 
children,  or  a  sketch  upon  a  scrap  of  paper  ;  so  that,  of  a  whole  army, 
there  is  not  a  single  man  but  carries  in  his  knapsack  a  gaudy  picture 
within  a  simple  cover,  with  which  he  never  parts,  and,  whenever  he 
halts,  he  sets  it  upon  a  piece  of  wood,  and  worships  it." — Travels  of 
Macarius  in  the  Sixteenth  Century. 

Nothing  also  is  changed  since  the  ambassadors  of  the 
Duke  of  Holstein,  early  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
wrote  : — 

"  The  first  thing  the  Muscovites  teach  their  children  is  to  make 
reverences  and  inclinations  to  the  images.  At  Ladoga  I  lodged  at  a 
woman's  house,  who  would  not  give  his  breakfast  to  a  child  she  had, 
who  could  hardly  either  stand  or  speak,  till  he  had  first  made  nine 
inclinations  before  the  saint,  and  as  often,  as  well  as  he  could  pro- 
nounce it,  said  his  Gospodi" 

Endless  are  the  superstitions  which  attend  domestic 
peasant  life  in  Russia.  A  cross  is  marked  upon  the 
threshold  to  keep  off  witches,  and  still-born  children  are 
buried  beneath  it,  every  peasant  crosses  himself  as  he 
passes  over  it,  diseased  children  are  washed  upon  it,  and 
a  newly-baptized  child  is  held  over  it  to  receive  the  bless- 
ing of  the  household  spirits.  Of  these  the  most  import- 
ant is  the  Domovoy ' — "  Grandfather2  Domovoy,"  which 

,  a  house.  -2  Dieilouchka^  diminutive  of  died. 


POPULAR  SUPERSTITIONS.  1 23 

is  supposed  to  inhabit  the  stove,  and  to  be  especially 
attached  to  his  own  family,  caring  for  its  welfare.  If 
anything  goes  wrong,  Russians  will  abuse  their  Domo- 
voy  as  Venetians  abuse  their  Madonna.  But  if  any  real 
misfortune  befalls  a  house,  it  is  believed  that  Grand- 
father Domovoy  has  gone  away  in  offense,  and  that  a 
strange  Domovoy  has  taken  his  place  ;  and  with  many 
penitential  promises  the  family  will  implore  their  own 
spirit  to  return  to  them.  On  January  28  the  peasants 
leave  out  a  pot  of  stewed  grain  for  the  Domovoy,  placed 
in  front  of  the  stove,  surrounded  by  burning  embers. 

"  The  Domovoy  often  appears  in  the  likeness  of  the  proprietor  of 
the  house,  and  sometimes  wears  his  clothes.  For  he  is,  indeed,  the 
representative  of  the  housekeeping  ideal  as  it  presents  itself  to  the 
Slavonian  mind.  He  is  industrious  and  frugal,  he  watches  over  the 
homestead  and  all  that  belongs  to  it.  When  a  goose  is  sacrificed  to 
the  water-spirit,  its  head  is  cut  off  and  hung  up  in  the  poultry-yard, 
in  order  that  the  Domovoy  may  not  know,  when  he  counts  the  heads, 
that  one  of  the  flock  has  gone.  For  he  is  jealous  of  the  other  spirits. 
He  will  not  allow  the  forest  spirit  to  play  pranks  in  the  garden,  nor 
witches  to  injure  the  cows.  He  sympathizes  with  the  joys  and  sorrows 
of  the  house  to  which  he  is  attached.  When  any  member  of  the 
family  dies,  he  may  be  heard  (like  the  Banshee)  wailing  at  night  ; 
when  the  head  of  the  family  is  about  to  die,  the  Domovoy  forebodes 
the  sad  event  by  sighing,  weeping,  or  sitting  at  his  work  with  his  cap 
pulled  over  his  eyes.  Before  an  outbreak  of  war,  fire,  or  pestilence, 
the  Domovoys  go  out  from  a  village,  and  may  be  heard  lamenting  in 
the  meadows.  When  any  misfortune  is  impending  over  a  family,  the 
Domovoy  gives  warning  of  it  by  knocking,  by  riding  at  night  on  the 
horses  till  they  are  completely  exhausted,  and  by  making  the  watch- 
dog dig  holes  in  the  courtyard,  and  go  howling  through  the  village. 
And  he  often  rouses  the  head  of  the  family  from  his  sleep  at  night 
when  the  house  is  threatened  with  fire  or  robbery. 

"  Each  Domovoy  has  his  own  favorite  color,  and  it  is  important  for 
the  family  to  try  and  get  all  their  cattle,  poultry,  dogs  and  cats  of 
this  hue.  In  order  to  find  out  what  it  is,  the  Orel  peasants  take  a 
piece  of  cake  on  Easter  Sunday,  wrap  it  in  a  rag,  and  hang  it  up  in  a 
stable.  At  the  end  of  six  weeks  they  look  to  see  of  what  color  the 
maggots  are  which  are  in  it.  That  is  the  color  which  the  Domovoy 
likes.  In  the  governments  of  Yaroslaf  and  Nijegorod  the  Domovoy 
takes  a  fancy  to  those  horses  and  cows  only  which  are  of  the  color  of 
his  own  hide." — Ralston,  "  Songs  of  the  Russian  People." 

If  a  family  change  their  residence,  there  is  consider- 
able apprehension  lest  it  should  not  be  agreeable  to  the 
Domovoy.  So,  exactly  at  noon,  after  the  furniture  has 
been  removed,  the  oldest  woman  in  the  family  takes  a 


1 24  STUDIES  AV  R USSIA. 

new  jar,  and  rakes  into  it  the  embers  left  in  the  stove  and 
carries  them  in  state  to  the  new  house,  covered  with  a 
clean  cloth.  At  the  door  stand  the  master  and  mistress 
of  the  house,  with  bread  and  salt.  The  old  woman 
smites  upon  the  doorposts  and  asks  if  the  visitors  are 
welcome.  Then  the  hosts  bow  and  say,  "Welcome, 
Grandfather  Domovoy,  to  the  new  house."  Upon  this, 
taking  the  towel  from  her  jar,  the  old  woman  shakes  it 
toward  the  four  corners  of  the  room,  empties  the  ashes 
into  the  stove,  breaks  the  jar,  and  buries  its  fragments 
under  the  floor. 

A  tragic  part  in  Russian  history  has  been  played  by  the 
island  fortress  of  Schlusselburg,  with  its  low,  yellow  bas- 
tion towers  ;  and,  as  in  the  case  of  all  the  scenes  of  royal 
or  imperial  tragedies,  permission  to  visit  it  is  very  rarely 
accorded,  and  then  only  imperfectly.  Here,  in  1741,  the 
unfortunate  young  Emperor  Ivan  VI.,  grandson  of  Ivan 
V.,  and  great-nephew  of  Peter  the  Great,  was  imprisoned 
in  the  revolution  which  placed  his  cousin  Elizabeth  upon 
the  throne. 

"  The  wretched  captive,  lately  the  envied  emperor  of  a  quarter  of 
the  globe,  was  lodged  (for  sixteen  years)  in  a  casemate  of  the  fortress, 
the  very  loophole  of  which  was  immediately  bricked  up.  He  was 
never  brought  out  into  the  open  air,  and  no  ray  of  heaven  ever  visited 
his  eyes.  In  this  subterranean  vault  it  was  necessary  to  keep  a  lamp 
always  burning  ;  and  as  no  clock  was  either  to  be  seen  or  heard,  Ivan 
knew  no  difference  between  day  and  night.  His  interior  guard,  a 
captain  and  a  lieutenant,  were  shut  up  with  him  ;  and  there  was  a 
time  when  they  did  not  dare  to  speak  to  him,  not  so  much  as  to  answer 
the  simplest  question." — Tookes  "  Life  of  Catherine  II." 

In  1762,  after  the  accession  of  Catherine  II.,  an  attempt 
of  one  Vassili  Mirovitch  (second  lieutenant  of  the  garri- 
son in  the  town  of  Schlusselburg)  to  get  possession  of 
the  person  of  Ivan  VI.,  in  the  hope  of  recovering  through 
him  some  family  estates  which  had  been  confiscated, 
resulted  in  the  cruel  death  of  the  prince. 

"  The  inner  guard  placed  over  the  imperial  prisoner  consisted  of 
two  officers,  Captain  Vlassief  and  Lieutenant  Tschekin,  who  slept 
with  him  in  his  cell.  These  had  a  discretionary  order  signed  by  the 
empress,  by  which  they  were  enjoined  to  put  the  unhappy  prince  to 
death,  on  any  insurrection  that  might  be  made  in  his  favor,  on  the 
presumption  that  it  could  not  otherwise  be  quelled. 

"  The  door  of  Ivan's  prison   opened  under  a  sort  of  low  arcade, 


FORTRESS  OF  t'CIILUSSELBURG.  125 

which,  together  with  it,  forms  the  thickness  of  the  castle-wall  within 
the  ramparts.  In  this  arcade,  or  corridor,  eight  soldiers  usually  kept 
guard,  as  well  on  his  account,  as  because  the  several  vaults  on  a  line 
with  this  contain  stores  of  various  kinds  for  the  use  of  the  fortress. 

"...  Having  wounded  and  secured  the  governor,  and  being 
arrived  at  the  corridor  into  which  the  door  of  Ivan's  chamber  opened, 
Mirovitch  advanced  furiously  at  the  head  of  his  troop,  and  attacked 
the  handful  of  soldiers  who  guarded  Prince  Ivan.  He  was  received 
with  spirit  by  the  guard,  who  quickly  repulsed  him.  He  immediately 
ordered  his  men  to  fire  upon  them,  which  they  did.  The  sentinels 
returned  their  fire,  when  the  conspirators  were  obliged  to  retire,  though 
neither  on  one  side  nor  the  other  was  there  a  single  man  killed,  or 
even  wounded  in  the  slightest  degree. 

"  The  soldiers  of  Mirovitch,  surprised  at  the  resistance  they  met, 
showed  signs  of  an  inclination  to  retreat.  Their  chief  withheld  them; 
but  they  insisted  on  his  showing  them  the  order  which  he  said  he  had 
received  from  St.  Petersburg.  He  directly  drew  from  his  pocket  and 
read  to  them  a  forged  decree  of  the  senate,  recalling  Prince  Ivan  to  the 
throne,  and  excluding  Catherine  from  it,  because  she  was  going  into 
Livonia  to  marry  Count  Poniatofsky.  The  ignorant  and  credulous 
soldiers  implicity  gave  credit  to  the  decree,  and  again  put  themselves 
in  order  to  obey  him.  A  piece  of  artillery  was  now  brought  from  the 
ramparts  to  Mirovitch,  who  himself  pointed  it  at  the  door  of  the  dun- 
geon, and  was  preparing  to  batter  the  place  ;  but  at  that  instant  the 
door  opened,  and  he  entered,  unmolested,  with  all  his  suite. 

"  The  officers,  Vlassief  and  Tschekin,  commanders  of  the  guard 
which  was  set  on  the  prince,  were  shut  up  with  him,  and  had  called 
out  to  the  sentinels  to  fire.  But,  on  seeing  this  formidable  prepara- 
tion, and  hearing  Mirovitch  give  orders  to  beat  in  the  door,  they 
thought  it  expedient  to  take  counsel  together.  .  .  .  On  this  con- 
sultation, they  came  to  the  dreadful  resolution  of  assassinating  the 
unfortunate  captive,  over  whose  life  they  were  to  watch. 

"  At  the  noise  of  the  firing,  Ivan  had  awoke  ;  and,  hearing  the 
cries  and  the  threats  of  his  guards,  he  conjured  them  to  spare  his 
miserable  life.  But,  on  seeing  these  barbarians  had  no  regard  to  his 
prayers,  he  found  new  force  in  his  despair  ;  and,  though  naked,  de- 
fended himself  for  a  considerable  time.  Having  his  right  hand 
pierced  through  and  his  body  covered  with  wounds,  he  seized  the 
sword  from  one  of  the  monsters,  and  broke  it  ;  but  while  he  was 
struggling  to  get  the  piece  out  of  his  hand,  the  other  stabbed  him  from 
behind,  and  threw  him  down.  He  who  had  lost  his  sword  now 
plunged  his  bayonet  into  his  body,  and,  several  times  repeating  his 
blow,  under  these  strokes  the  unhappy  prince  expired. 

"  They  then  opened  the  door,  and  showed  Mirovitch  at  once  the 
bleeding  body  of  the  murdered  prince,  and  the  order  by  which  they 
were  authorized  to  put  him  to  death,  if  any  attempt  should  be  made  to 
convey  him  away."  ' — Tooke's  "  Life  of  Catherine  II." 

i  Ivan  was  buried  in  the  monastery  of  Titschina  near  St.  Petersburg.  The  rest  of 
the  family  of  Brunswick — Catherine,  Elizabeth,  Peter  and  Alexis,  children  of  the 
Regent  Anne  by  Anthony  Ulric,  Duke  of  Brunswick,  released  from  imprisonment 
under  Catherine  II.,  all  died  at  Gorsens. 


126  ST  UD1E  S  IN  R  US  Si  A . 

It  was  at  Old  Ladoga  near  Schliisselburg  that  the 
Tsaritsa  Eudoxia,  the  discarded  first  wife  of  Peter  the 
Great,  and  mother  of  his  son  Alexis,  was  imprisoned  in 
1718,  being  only  released  from  captivity  on  the  accession 
of  her  grandson  Peter  II. 


Our  longest  excursion  from  St.  Petersburg  was  that  to 
Imatra  in  Finland,  for  which  at  least  three  days  are 
necessary.  It  is  quite  worth  while,  not  so  much  from  any 
beauty  of  scenery,  but  from  the  glimpse  it  gives  of  the 
Finns,  though  to  the  eye  of  a  stranger  they  have  little  now 
to  distinguish  them  from  ordinary  Russians. 

Finland,  the  Fen-land,  Seiomen-maa,  is  a  vast  land  of 
lakes  and  granite  rocks.  It  is  about  as  large  as  the  whole 
of  France,  and  has  altogether  about  half  as  many  inhabi- 
tants as  London — a  proportion  of  seven  to  the  square 
mile.  In  Eastern  Finland,  "  the  Land  of  a  Thousand 
Lakes,"  more  than  half  the  country  is  occupied  by  stony 
basins  of  clear  water,  to  which  the  rivers  are  only  con- 
necting links.  Northern  Finland  has  little  vegetation 
except  moss  and  lichen,  and  over  the  rest  of  the  country 
are  vast  desolate  districts.  Finland  is  twelve  times  less 
populous  in  proportion  than  France,  even  three  times  less 
populous  in  proportion  than  Russia  itself. 

Finland  is  the  only  European  state,  except  Hungary, 
which  has  preserved  the  name  of  a  nation  not  Aryan.  Its 
people,  called  Chouds  in  the  Slavonic  Chronicles,  pre- 
serve, at  least  in  the  north,  their  traditions  and  cultivate 
their  language,  which  is  Oriental,  and  nearly  related  to 
Hungarian.  In  the  south  they  are  becoming  more 
amalgamated  with  the  Russians.  Of  Mongolian  race, 
they  are  the  earliest  inhabitants  with  whose  history  we  are 
acquainted  in  the  north  of  Russia,  and  are  the  natural 
inhabitants  of  the  soil  of  St.  Petersburg.  Possibly  they 
are  the  red-haired  nation  living  in  wooden  cities,  men- 
tioned by  Herodotus  as  lying  to  the  north  of  his  Sarma- 
tians.  In  the  days  of  the  English  Alfred,  the  Finns  had 
a  great  city  at  Perm,  with  a  gilded  female  idol,  whom  they 
worshiped  ;  and  by  means  of  the  two  rivers  Volga  and 
Tetchora,  they  carried  on  a  great  trade  with  the  Caspian, 
the  people  of  Igur,  or  Bukhara^  and  India.  The  Aurea 


FINLAND.  127 

Venus  of  Perm  was  mentioned  by  Russian  chroniclers 
under  the  name  of  Saliotta  Baba — the  golden  old  woman. 
After  the  Asiatic  hordes  had  overrun  Southern  Russia, 
the  Finns  were  driven  out  of  their  original  settlements  by 
the  Bulgarians,  and  in  their  turn  drove  out  the  Lapps, 
who  were  compelled  to  take  refuge  in  the  extreme  north. 
The  Finns  continued  to  be  idolaters — worshiping  Ukko, 
the  god  of  air  and  thunder  ;  Tapio,  the  god  of'  forests  ; 
Akti,  the  god  of  lakes  and  streams  ;  and  Tuoni,  the  god 
of  fire — till  the  twelfth  century,  when  Eric  IX.  of  Sweden 
landed  on  the  west  coast  with  an  army  and  with  St.  Henry, 
an  Englishman,  the  first  bishop  and  martyr  of  Finland,  and 
conquered  the  country,  physically  and  spiritually.  The 
Swedes  governed  Finland  as  Sweden  was  governed, 
and  gave  the  Finns  a  representation  in  the  Swedish  Diet. 
Having  been  Catholic  since  the  Swedish  conquest,  most 
of  the  Finns  became  Lutherans  after  the  Reformation 
under  Gustavus  Vasa,  when  the  convents  were  confiscated. 
The  prevailing  religion  is  now  Lutheran  ;  out  of  a  popu- 
lation of  2,000,000  only  1,000  are  Catholic. 

The  part  of  Finland  nearest  Russia  was  annexed  by 
Peter  the  Great  in  1703,'  and  the  rest  of  Finland  was,  in 
1808,  ceded  to  the  generous  Alexander  I.,  who  respected 
both  the  customs  and  religion  of  the  country,  of  which  he 
made  himself  Duke.  Though  nominally  subject  to  Rus- 
sia and  partially  protected  by  her,  Finland  has  since 
been  substantially  independent,  with  her  own  laws  and 
customs. 

On  their  barren  soil  and  with  their  cold  climate,  the 
Finns  can  never  hope  to  be  powerful  either  by  numbers, 
industry,  or  riches.  Granite  and  marble  are  abundant, 
and  there  are  rich  mines  for  all  kinds  of  valuable  metals, 
but  the  want  of  roads  has  hitherto  made  them  unavail- 
able. Famines  have  decimated  the  population.  When 
the  wheat  can  not  ripen  before  the  cold  weather,  as  is 
often  the  case,  the  utmost  misery  ensues.  The  inhabi- 
tants eat  moss,  shoots  of  trees,  even  straw.  In  1868,  a 
quarter  of  the  population  died  of  hunger  in  certain 
districts. 

Drunkenness  has  done  much  to  keep  the  Finns  in  a 

i  In  1714  its  most  precious  relic,  the  bones  of  St.   Henry,  were  carried  off  from 
Abo  to  St.  Petersburg. 


1 28  STUDIES  IN  R USS1A. 

state  of  barbarism,  and,  though  often  more  instructed 
than  the  Russian  peasants,  they  are  behindhand  in  all 
social  matters.  As  late  as  1836  it  was  thought  necessary 
to  publish  a  ukase  compelling  the  priests  to  add  a  family 
name  to  the  name  of  a  saint  given  at  baptism.  Where 
the  family  did  not  exist,  what  was  the  use  of  giving  the 
child  a  name  ?  If  a  Finn  wishes  to  break  his  fast,  he 
will  still  first  turn  the  family  icon  with  its  face  to  the 
wall,  that  it  may  not  see  him  :  the  icon,  he  believes, 
would  inform  against  him  to  the  priest.  The  Finns  are 
fond  of  charms  and  all  arts  of  magic,  and  sacrifices  are 
still  sometimes  offered.  "  Blond  comme  un  Finnois  "  is 
a  proverb.  The  people  are  silent  and  stolid,  melancholy 
and  suspicious  ;  but  they  are  also  grateful  and  patient, 
and  have  an  honesty  and  simplicity  of  character  unknown 
in  Russia.  Their  ballads  pass  from  mouth  to  mouth,  but 
they  also  possess,  in  the  "  Kalevala,"  a  national  song, 
which  is  the  Iliad,  the  Nibelungen  of  Finland,  called  by 
Max  Miiller  the  fifth  national  epic  of  the  world.  They 
have  had  a  modern  poet — Runeberg,  born  in  1804,  and 
only  recently  dead. 

Tourgueneff  says  that  "  night  is  only  a  sick  day  "  here, 
and  there  is  a  Finnish  legend  which  tells  that  Twilight 
and  Dawn  are  a  betrothed  pair,  long  divided  and  cease- 
lessly seeking  each  other,  till  here,  in  the  height  of  sum- 
mer, they  meet,  and  then  their  united  lamps  burn  with 
splendor  in  the  northern  heavens. 

There  are  still  many  bears,  wolves,  lynx,  gluttons  and 
foxes  in  Finland.  The  marten  is  nearly  extinct.  The 
last  elan  perished  in  the  Russian  invasion  of  1809  ; 
though,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
Gustavus  Adolphus  had  published  an  edict  of  death 
against  every  "  murderer  of  an  elan." 

Perpetual  forests — truly  woods  without  trees,  for  there 
is  nothing  worthy  of  the  name — hem  in  the  railway  line 
from  St.  Petersburg  to  Wiborg.  Passports  are  examined 
at  the  Finnish  frontier,  and  a  change  of  language  and 
money  takes  place.  Wiborg,  which  derives  its  name 
from  Vieh  (cattle),  is  a  pretty,  prosperous  little  town,  the 
third  in  Finland  in  importance,  with  comfortable  inns,  an 
old  circular  market-house,  and  a  castle  founded  by  Tor- 
kel,  son  of  Canute,  in  1293.  In  the  little  port  under  the 


FIXLAXD.  129 

picturesque  towers  of  this  old  castle,  where  the  Swedish 
governors  lived  like  princes,  we  found  a  toy  steamer,  in 
which  we  proceeded  across  lakes  where  the  course  was 
marked  by  flags  on  both  sides,  and  through  their  con- 
necting canals.  On  Sundays,  while  the  ro\vers  sing,  the 
population  of  whole  villages  is  seen  crossing  some  of 
these  lakes  in  barges,  for  the  Finns  are  great  church- 
goers. All  the  scenery  is  pretty,  but  with  the  monoton- 
ous melancholy  of  Sweden.  Even  the  trees  are  all  sad 
funereal  pines,  weeping  birches,  sixty  different  kinds 
of  willow,  and  here  and  there  a  service-tree,  the  holy  tree 
of  the  ancient  Finns.  At  one  of  the  locks  we  had  to 
leave  our  first  steamer  and  join  another  on  a  higher  level, 
a  number  of  little  boys  being  in  waiting  to  carry  our 
luggage. 

At  the  station  of  Rattiarre  we  finally  disembarked, 
and,  after  a  long  wait  in  a  wooden  room  looking  down 
upon  a  sad  lake,  were  arranged  in  an  open  char-a-bancs 
with  three  horses  abreast,  driven  furiously  down  every 
hill  we  came  to,  that  we  might  have  an  impetus  for  the 
ascents.  Here  beggars  were  always  waiting,  who  asked 
alms  "  for  the  love  of  Christ — the  heavenly  Tsar,"  and 
troops  of  children  met  us  with  birch-baskets  and  labkas 
(slippers  of  linden  bark),  stones  worn  into  odd  forms  by 
the  river  rapids,  and  forest  fruits  and  blackcock  for  sale. 
The  most  hideous,  skeleton,  and  hopeless-looking  horses 
do  their  work  well  here,  and  only  require  the  voice  of  the 
Yemstchik.  If  many  horses  are  wanted  at  the  stations, 
travelers  are  liable  to  be  detained,  for  they  are  out  brows- 
ing in  the  forest. 

The  monotonous  woods  only  opened  a  little  toward 
evening  into  fields  divided  by  rude  fences  supported  by 
forked  sticks.  Here  where  the  forests  have  been  burned, 
a  rich  harvest  is  obtained  from  the  soil  which  is  mixed 
with  ashes.  On  the  plowed  fields  were  numbers  of  the 
crows  whom  the  Finns  regard  as  the  spirits  of  dead 
brothers  and  sisters,  and  through  the  dry  lands  the  pee- 
wits were  crying  peet,  peet,  as  if  begging  for  the  rain, 
which  soon  afterward  came.  Of  these  the  legend 
tells  :— 

"  When  God  created  the  earth,  and  determined  to  supply  it  with 
seas,  lakes,  and  rivers,  He  ordered  the  birds  to  convey  the  water  to 


1 30  STUDIES  AV  R  US  SI  A . 

their  appointed  places.  They  all  obeyed  except  this  bird,  which  re- 
fused to  fulfill  its  duty,  saying  that  it  had  no  need  of  seas,  lakes,  or 
rivers,  to  slake  its  thirst.  Then  the  Lord  waxed  wroth  and  forbade 
it  and  its  posterity  ever  to  approach  a  sea  or  stream,  allowing  it  to 
quench  its  thirst  only  with  that  water  which  remains  in  hollows  or 
among  stones  after  rain.  From  that  time  it  has  never  ceased  its  wail- 
ing cry  of  '  Drink,  Drink,  JPeef,  Feet.'  " — Ralston  (from  Tereschenko), 
'  Russian  Folk  Tales" 

As  twilight  was  darkening  into  the  blueness  of  the 
northern  night,  with  the  summer  lightning  which  Rus- 
sians associate  with  the  wink  of  an  evil  eye,  the  lights  in 
the  large  hotel  at  Imatra  were  a  welcome  sight,  and  little 
glasses  of  vodki,  spirit  made  of  rye,  were  a  restorative 
before  supper. 

The  hotel  stands  above  what  is  called  the  Falls  of 
Imatra,  which  are  not  a  cascade,  but  a  rapid  of  milk- 
white  foam  by  which  the  lake  falls  into  the  river  through 
a  gully  of  rocks.  Pleasant  winding  walks  lead  to  differ- 
ent points  of  view.  All  is  pretty,  but  nothing  very  strik- 
ing, though  it  has  great  value  as  being  the  only  bit  of 
what  is  commonly  called  "  scenery  "  within  many  hund- 
red miles  of  St.  Petersburg.  We  spent  most  of  our  day 
at  Imatra  in  an  excursion  to  a  further  lake  and  rapid,  at 
Harakka,  to  which  the  carriage  crossed  by  a  ferry,  and 
where  the  fishing-club  at  St.  Petersburg  has  a  pleasant 
chalet  at  the  foot  of  a  steep  bank.  In  the  evening  we 
heard  singing,  and  were  told  the  subject  was  that  favorite 
with  Russian  poets,  the  sorrows  of  a  bride  on  leaving  her 
mother,  on  which  the  "  Kalevala  "  gives  these  lines  : — 

"  Why  abandon  thus  your  mother? 
Why  dost  leave  your  native  country  ? 
Here  you  had  no  thought  of  trouble, 
Here  no  care  your  heart  to  burden, 
Cares  were  left  to  pines  of  forest, 
Troubles  to  the  posts  and  fences, 
Bitter  griefs  to  trees  of  marshes, 
Sad  complaints  to  lonely  birches. 
Like  the  leaf,  you  floated  onward, 
Like  the  butterfly  in  summer — 
Grew  a  bay,  a  beauteous  berry, 
In  the  meadow  of  your  mother." 

Only  the  length  of  the  journey  by  rail  prevented  our 


FIXLAXD.  131 

going  on  from  Wiborg  to  the  modern  capital  of  Helsing- 
fors  and  the  ancient  capital  of  Abo,  but  it  would  prob- 
ably have  been  well  worth  while.  The  Cathedral  of  St. 
Henry  at  Abo  is  the  cradle  of  Finnish  Christianity,  and 
contains  a  number  of  mummies  of  distinguished  persons, 
including  that,  in  a  copper  coffin,  of  Queen  Korsin,  wife 
of  Eric  XIV.  of  Sweden,  who  abdicated  the  Swedish 
throne  to  return  to  Finland. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

NOVOGOROD    THE    GREAT. 

THERE  are  500,000,000  acres  of  forest  in  European 
Russia,  and  through  a  good  many  of  these  the 
line  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Moscow  runs  straight  as  an 
arrow.  When  the  engineers  of  the  line  went  to  the 
Emperor  Nicholas  to  receive  his  directions,  and  bored 
him  by  the  detail  of  their  inquiries,  he  took  a  ruler,  and 
drew  a  straight  line  from  town  to  town,  saying,  "  You 
shall  make  your  line  thus."  And  so  it  was  made,  abso- 
lutely straight  for  four  hundred  miles,  inconveniently 
evading  every  object  of  interest  or  importance  to  the  right 
or  left,  and  only  passing  through  one  town,  Tver. 

What  present  inconvenience,  however,  can  be  thought 
of,  if  we  remember,  that,  as  late  as  1800,  when  the  trav- 
eler Clarke  went  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Moscow,  the 
whole  road  consisted  of  trunks  of  trees  laid  across,  two 
million  one  hundred  thousand  trees  having  been  used  in 
the  first  hundred  miles  ?  A}yessel  rolling  in  the  Atlantic 
was  luxurious  in  comparison.  The  jolting  can  be  imag- 
ined but  never  described  ;  only  an  abundant  supply  of 
feather-beds  made  it  supportable. 

In  winter,  when  all  was  frozen  snow,  traveling  was 
quicker  and  easier,  but  there  were  dangers  of  wolves  and 
frost-bites  to  be  encountered.  "  Samovar  postavit  !  " 
("  On  with  the  tea-kettle  ! ")  the  half-frozen  traveler 
never  failed  to  shout  from  his  sledge  as  he  neared  a  post- 
station.1 

We  could  not  take  the  express  train,  as  it  did  not  suit 
our  branch  line  from  Tchudova  to  Novogorod,  but 
dawdled  in  a  slow  train  through  the  forests,  which  are 
monotonous  enough,  though  there  is  something  fine  in 
their  boundlessness. 

i  See  Kohl. 


R  U SSI  AN  FORESTS.  1 33 

"  La  foret  lointaine  ne  varie  pas,  elle  n'est  pas  belle,  mais  qui  pent 
la  sender  ?  Quand  on  pense  qu'elle  ne  finit  qu'a  la  muraille  de  la 
Chine,  on  est  saisi  de  respect :  la  nature,  comme  la  musique,  tire  une 
partie  de  sa  puissance  des  repetitions." — J/.  de  Custine. 

In  the  song  of  Igor  the  Brave,  the  forests  of  Russia 
are  due  to  the  prayer  of  St.  George  :  "  Forests,  thick 
forests,  grow,  O  dark  forests,  over  all  the  famous  land  of 
Russia,  by  the  commandment  of  God  and  the  prayer  of 
George." 

These  forests  (Lyes)  are  regarded  as  the  abode  of  the 
Lyeshy  or  wood-demon,  a  being,  often  a  giant,  with  horns 
and  hoofs  and  long  hair.  The  hurricanes  of  the  forests 
are  the  battles  of  the  Lyeshy.  The  birds  and  beasts  are 
his  servants,  but  his  especial  friend  is  the  bear,  who 
guards  him  from  the  water-sprites.  When  the  squirrels 
and  mice  go  forth  upon  their  annual  migrations,  they  are 
supposed  to  be  captives  which  one  Lyeshy  has  taken 
from  another,  or  to  have  been  lost  by  their  rightful 
Lyeshy  in  gambling. 

"  If  any  one  wishes  to  invoke  a  Lyeshy,  he  should  cut. down  a  num- 
ber of  young  birch-trees,  and  place  them  in  a  circle  with  their  tops  in 
the  middle.  Then  he  must  take  off  his  cross,  and,  standing  within 
the  circle,  call  out  loudly,  '  Dyedushka  ! '  (Grandfather  !)  and  the 
Lyeshy  will  appear  immediately.  Or  he  should  go  into  the  forest  on 
St.  John's  Eve,  and  fell  an  aspen,  aking  care  that  it  falls  toward  the 
east.  Then  he  must  stand  upon  tnc  stump,  with  his  face  turned  east- 
ward, bend  downward,  and  say,  looking  between  his  feet,  '  Uncle 
Lyeshy  !  appear  not  as  a  gray  wo1",  nor  as  a  black  raven,  nor  as  a  fir 
for  burning :  appear  just  like  me  ! '  Then  the  leaves  of  the  aspen 
will  begin  to  whisper  as  if  a  light  breeze  were  blowing  over  them,  and 
the  Lyeshy  will  appear  in  the  form  of  a  man.  On  such  occasions  he 
is  ready  to  make  a  bargain  with  his  invoker,  giving  him  all  kinds  of 
assistance  in  return  for  the  other's  soul." — Ralston,  "Songs  of  the 
Russian  People" 

A  primitive  old  lady,  who  orthodoxly  crossed  herself 
whenever  the  carriage  gave  a  jolt,  recalled  the  capital 
description  of  Tourgueneff : 

"  Arina  Vlassievna  was  a  true  specimen  of  an  old-fashioned  Russian 
gentlewoman  ;  she  ought  to  have  come  into  the  world  two  hundred 
years  earlier,  in  the  time  of  the  Grand-Dukes  of  Moscow.  Highly 
excitable  and  very  devout,  she  believed  in  all  kinds  of  fore-warnings, 
in  divinations,  in  witchcraft,  in  dreams  ;  she  believed  in  *  lourodivi? 
in  familiar  spirits,  in  dryads,  in  evil  chances,  in  the  evil  eye,  in  popular 
remedies,  in  the  virtues  of  salt  laid  on  the  altar  on  Holy  Thursday,  in 


1 34  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

the  approaching  end  of  the  world  ;  she  believed  that  if  the  candles  of 
the  midnight  mass  at  Easter  did  not  go  out,  the  harvest  of  buckwheat 
would  be  good,  and  that  mushrooms  never  grow  till  a  human  eye  has 
rested  upon  them  ;  she  believed  that  the  devil  loves  places  where  there 
is  water,  and  that  the  Jews  have  a  stain  of  blood  upon  their  breasts  ; 
she  was  afraid  of  mice,  adders,  frogs,  sparrows,  leeches,  thunder,  cold 
water,  draughts  of  air,  horses,  he-goats,  red  men  and  black  cats,  and 
she  considered  dogs  and  crickets  as  unclean  beasts  ;  she  never  ate  veal, 
or  pigeons,  or  lobsters,  or  cheese,  or  asparagus,  or  Jerusalem  arti- 
chokes, or  hare,  or  water-melon  (because  a  cut  melon  recalls  the 
severed  head  of  St.  John  the  Baptist),  and  the  very  idea  of  oysters, 
which  she  had  never  seen  in  her  life,  made  her  tremble  ;  she  loved 
good  eating,  and  fasted  rigidly  ;  she  slept  ten  hours  a  day,  and  never 
went  to  bed  at  all  if  Vassili  Ivanovitch  complained  of  a  headache. 
The  only  book  she  had  read  was  called  '  Alexis,  or  the  Cottage  in  the 
Forest. '  She  never  wrote  more  than  one  or  two  letters  a  year,  and 
was  a  proficient  in  the  manufacture  of  jams  and  jellies,  though  she 
never  herself  laid  her  hand  to  any  thing,  and  did  not  usually  like  to 
move  from  her  chair.  Arina  Vlassievna  was,  nevertheless,  very  kind, 
and  was  not  without  a  certain  kind  of  good  sense.  She  knew  that  the 
masters  existed  in  the  world  to  give  orders,  and  the  lower  classes  to 
obey,  and  for  this  reason  she  had  no  fault  to  find  with  the  obsequious- 
ness of  her  inferiors,  with  their  bowings  down  to  the  ground  ;  but  she 
treated  them  with  great  gentleness,  and  never  passed  a  beggar  without 
giving  him  alms,  and  never  spoke  harshly  of  any  one,  though  she  was 
not  averse  to  gossip.  In  her  youth  she  had  possessed  an  agreeable 
figure,  she  played  the  harpsichord,  and  spoke  a  little  French.  But 
during  the  long  journeys  of  her  husband,  whom  she  had  married  against 
her  will,  she  had  grown  fat,  and  had  forgotten  her  music  and  French. 
While  she  adored  her  son,  she  was  dreadfully  afraid  of  him  ;  it  was 
Vassili  Ivanovitch  who  managed  her  property,  and  she  left  him  full 
liberty  in  this  respect  ;  she  sighed,  fanned  herself  with  her  handker- 
chief, and  frowned  timorously  when  her  old  husband  began  to  speak  to 
her  of  the  reforms  which  were  in  progress,  and  of  his  own  plans.  She  was 
distrustful,  was  always  on  the  watch  for  some  great  misfortune,  and 
began  to  weep  whenever  any  thing  sad  came  to  her  recollection.  .  .  . 
Women  of  this  kind  are  beginning  to  become  rare.  God  knows  if  it 
is  a  subject  for  rejoicing." — Parents  and  Children. 

Toward  evening,  the  seventy  minarets  of  Novogorod 
rose  above  the  plain,  and  then  the  circle  of  proud  monas- 
teries which  still  "  mark  the  ribs  of  the  great  skeleton  " 
of  the  fallen  city. 

On  arriving  at  the  station  we  found  the  muddy  space  in 
front  of  it  crowded  with  droskies,  but  then  first  knew  the 
terrible  burden  of  luggage  in  a  land  where  the  only  car- 
riages are  the  smallest  in  Christendom.  Any  ordinary 
box  looks  as  if  it  would  crush  one  of  these  tiny  vehicles  ; 
and  an  English  lady's  usual  luggage  requires  five  or  six 


NOVOGOROD  THE  GREAT.  135 

of  them.  Our  procession,  once  started  along  the  stony 
road,  deep  here  and  there  in  quagmire,  was  soon  arrested 
by  another  procession,  chanting,  with  banners  and  flow- 
ers, taking  a  famous  image  from  one  of  the  churches  to 
a  chapel  on  the  other  side  of  the  bridge.  We  followed 
slowly,  with  bare  heads  like  our  drivers,  through  the  red 
walls  of  the  Kremlin  inclosure,  and  across  the  broad 
Volkoff  to  the  good  and  reasonable  Hotel  Solovieff. 

As  a  relic  of  former  grandeur,'  few  places  in  Europe 
are  more  interesting  or  more  melancholy  than  Gospodin 
Veliki  Novogorod — Lord  Novogorod  the  Great — which 
was  long  the  political  center  of  north-western  Russia.1 
According  to  Nestor,  the  earliest  of  Russian  historians, 
its  foundation  is  coeval  with  that  of  Kieff,  in  the  middle 
of  the  fifth  century,  and  it  disputes  with  Kieff  the  honor 
of  being  the  cradle  of  Russian  power.  But  little  is  really 
known  of  its  history  till  the  ninth  century,  when  Rurik 
made  it  his  metropolis.  A  year  after  his  death,  and  the 
accession  of  his  son  Igor  (879),  the  seat  of  government 
was  removed  to  Kieff,  and  for  a  century  Novogorod  was 
ruled  by  governors.  In  970  Sviatoslaf,  son  of  Igor,  made 
his  third  son,  Vladimir,  Duke  of  Novogorod,  who,  when 
he  succeeded  his  father  on  the  throne  of  Russia,  ceded 
the  town  to  his  son  Yaroslaf,  by  whom,  in  1036,  great 
privileges  were  granted  to  the  inhabitants.  From  this 
time  Novogorod  was  governed  by  its  own  Dukes,  who 
gradually  became  entirely  independent,  and  the  town 
increased  in  prosperity  till  "  Who  can  contend  against 
God  and  the  great  Novogorod  ? "  became  a  Russian 
proverb.  By  the  Lake  Ilmen  and  its  communications  with 
the  Volkoff  and  Lake  Ladoga  on  the  north,  and  the 
Volga,  Dniester,  and  Dnieper  on  the  South,  Novogorod 
became  the  intermediary  of  commerce  between  Europe 
and  Eastern  Russia,  and  even  Asia. 

Oustreloff  says  that  the  territory  of  the  republic  of 
Novogorod  reached  on  the  south  to  Torjok  ;  on  the  north 
to  Kexholm,  a  hundred  milesbeyond  St.  Petersburg ;  on  the 
east  to  the  extremity  of  the  modern  government  of  Arch- 
angel, Viatka,  and  Perm  ;  and  on  the  west  to  Esthonia ; 
a  district  now  containing  about  five  million  inhabitants. 

j  Rambaud,  Hist,  dc  la  Russie, 


1 36  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

The  fall  of  Kieff  in  1169  seemed  at  the  time  to  presage 
the  fall  of  Novogorod,  but  as  Karamsin  says,  "  the  people 
of  Kieff,  accustomed  to  change  their  rulers,  and  to  sacri- 
fice the  conquered  to  the  conquerors,  fought  only  for  the 
honor  of  their  princes  ;  while  the  people  of  Novogorod 
were  ever  ready  to  give  their  blood  for  the  defense  of 
their  rights  and  the  institutions  bequeathed  to  them  by 
their  ancestors."  '  They  were  always  ready  to  die  for  St. 
Sophia  of  Novogorod. 

The  princes  of  Novogorod  were  chosen  by  the  council 
called  the  Veche,  in  which,  and  not  in  the  prince,  the 
chief  power  vested.  If  the  Veche  complained  of  a  prince 
after  his  election,  he  was  deposed  ;  whence  the  proverb, 
"  An  evil  prince  to  the  mud  of  the  marsh."  a  It  was  the 
assembly  of  the  citizens,  summoned  by  the  great  bell  to 
meet  in  the  "  Court  of  Yaroslaf,"  which  was  the  true 
sovereign.3 

"  Novogorod  avait  le  choix  entre  les  princes  des  families  rivales. 
Elle  pouvait  faire  ses  conditions  a  celui  qu'elle  appelait  a  regner  sur 
elle.  Mecontente  de  sa  gestion,  elle  expulsait  le  prince  et  sa  bande 
d'antrustions.  Suivant  1'expression  consacree,  elle  '  le  saluait  et  lui 
montrait  le  chemin  '  pour  sortir  de  Novogorod.  Quelquefois,  pour 
prevenir  ses  mauvais  desseins,  elle  le  retenait  prisonnier  dans  le  palais 
du  prelat,  et  c'etait  son  successeur  qui  devait  lui  rendre  la  liberte. 

"  Le  pouvoir  d'un  prince  de  Novogorod  s'appuyait  non-seulement 
sur  sa  droujina  qui  suivait  toujours  sa  destinee  sur  ses  relations  de 
famille  avec  telle  ou  telle  principaute  puissante,  mais  encore  sur  un 
parti  qui  se  formait  en  sa  faveur  au  sein  de  la  republique.  C'etait 
lorsque  le  parti  contraire  I'emportait  qu'il  etait  detrone,  et  que  les 
vengeances  populaires  s'exer9aient  sur  ses  adherents.  Novogorod 
etant  avant  tout  une  grande  cite  comme^ante.ces  divisions  avaient  fre- 
quemment  pour  cause  des  divergences  d'interets  economiques." — Ram- 
baud ',  "  Hist,  de  la  Rtissie" 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  Grand-Princes  of  Russia, 
removing  their  residence  from  Kieff  to  Vladimir,  and 
afterward  to  Moscow,  claimed  feudal  sovereignty  over 
Novogorod  also,  but  respected  the  greater  part  of  its 
popular  privileges.  In  1471  the  ambition  of  Martha  Be- 
retska,  an  absolute-mayoress  elected  by  the  Veche,  caused 
the  Novogorodians  to  throw  off  all  subjection  to  Ivan 
III.,  and  to  negotiate  an  alliance  with  Poland.  They 

i  Kostomarov,  Histoire  de  Russic.  2  Ibid. 

3  Rambaud,  Hist,  de  la  Riissie. 


NOVOGOROD  THE  GREAT.  137 

were  entirely  defeated  by  the  Russian  armies,  but  par- 
doned on  payment  of  a  heavy  fine.  But  in  1478  Martha 
incited  a  second  rebellion,  when  the  city  was  blockaded, 
compelled  by  famine  to  surrender,  its  Veche  abolished, 
and  its  people  forced  to  take  an  oath  of  obedience  to  the 
autocratic  prince  of  Moscow  ;  in  1497  numbers  of  the  in- 
habitants were  massacred  and  exiled  ;  and  in  the  sixteenth 
century  Ivan  Vassilivitch  carried  off  to  Moscow  the  great 
bell  called  "  Eternal,"  revered  as  the  palladium  of  the 
liberties  of  Novogorod,  which  he  demanded  as  "  the  larum 
of  sedition."  Henceforward  the  Grand-Prince  became 
absolute  sovereign  of  Novogorod,  building  a  Kremlin  by 
which  he  might  dominate  the  town  ;  but  it  continued, 
after  Moscow,  to  be  the  largest  and  most  commercial 
city  in  Russia.  Thus  Richard  Chancelour  describes  it 
in  1554:— 

"  Next  unto  Moscow,  the  city  of  Novogorod  is  reputed  the  chiefest 
in  Russia  ;  for  although  it  be  in  majestic  inferior  to  it,  yet  in  great- 
nesse  it  goeth  beyond  it.  It  is  the  chiefest  and  greatest  marte  towne 
of  all  Moscovie  ;  and  albeit  the  emperor's  seate  is  not  there,  but  at 
Mosco,  yet  the  commodiousnesse  of  the  river,  falling  into  that  gulfe 
which  is  called  Sinus  Finnicus,  whereby  it  is  well  frequented  by  mer- 
chants, makes  it  more  famous  than  Mosco  itself." — Hakluyt, 
i.  252. » 

In  1570  Ivan  the  Terrible  (Ivan  Vassilivitch  II.)  dis- 
covered a  treasonable  correspondence  between  the  citizens 
of  Novogorod  and  Sigismund  Augustus  of  Poland,  and 
avenged  it  by  the  terrible  "  tribunal  of  blood,"  in  which 
some  say  that  thirty,  some  that  sixty  thousand  persons 
fell. 

4 '  A  gentleman,  sent  by  the  King  of  Denmark,  to  this  tyrant,  eight 
years  after  the  taking  of  the  citie,  relates,  in  his  Itinerary,  that  per- 
sons of  quality  had  assured  him  that  there  were  so  many  bodies  cast 
into  Wolgda,  that  the  river,  stopping,  overflow'd  all  the  neighbouring 
fields.  The  plague,  which  soon  follow'd  this  cruelty,  was  so  great 
that,  nobody  venturing  to  bring  in  provisions,  the  inhabitants  fed  on 
dead  carcasses.  The  tyrant  took  a  pretense  from  this  inhumanity  to 
cause  to  be  cut  in  pieces  all  those  who  had  escaped  the  plague,  famine, 
and  his  former  cruelty,  which  was  no  doubt  more  dreadf ull  than  all  the 
other  chastisements  of  God.  I  shall  alledge  onely  two  examples 
relating  to  Novogorod.  The  archbishop  of  this  place,  having  escap'd 

i  "The  Booke  of  the  great  and  mighty  Emperor  of  Russia,  and  Duke  of  Mus- 
couia,  and  of  the  dominions,  orders,  and  commodities  thereunto  belonging :  drawen 
by  Richard  Chancelour"  (fewp.  Ed.  VI.)  1553. 


1 38  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A. 

the  first  fury  of  the  soldiery,  either  as  an  acknowledgement  of  the 
favour,  or  to  natter  the  tyrant,  entertains  him  at  a  great  feast  in  his 
archiepiscopal  palace,  whither  the  Duke  fayl'd  not  to  come,  with  his 
guard  about  him,  but  while  they  were  at  dinner  he  sent  to  pillage  the 
rich  temple  of  St.  Sophia,  and  all  the  treasures  of  the  other  churches, 
which  had  been  brought  thither,  as  to  a  place  of  safety.  After  dinner 
he  caused  the  archbishop's  palace  to  be  in  like  manner  pillaged,  and 
told  the  archbishop  that  it  would  be  ridiculous  for  him  to  act  the  pre- 
late any  longer,  since  he  had  not  to  bear  himself  out  in  that  quality  ; 
that  he  must  put  off  his  rich  habit,  which  must  thenceforth  be  trouble- 
some to  him,  and  that  he  would  bestow  on  him  a  bagpipe  and  a  bear, 
which  he  should  lead  up  and  down,  and  teach  to  dance,  and  get  mQney  ; 
that  he  must  resolve  to  marry,  and  that  all  other  prelates  and  abbots 
that  were  about  the  citie  should  be  invited  to  the  wedding,  setting 
down  the  precise  sum  which  it  was  his  pleasure  that  everyone  should 
present  to  the  newly-married  couple.  None  but  brought  what  he  had 


KREMLIN   OF   NOVOGOROD. 

a  shift  to  save,  thinking  the  poor  archbishop  would  have  had  it.  But 
the  tyrant  took  all  the  money,  and,  having  caused  a  white  mare  to  be 
brought  to  the  archbishop  :  '  There  is  thy  wife,  get  up  on  her,  and  go 
to  Moscou,  where  I  will  have  thee  entertain'd  among  the  violins,  that 
thou  may'st  teach  the  bear  to  dance."  The  archbishop  was  forc'd  to 
obey,  and,  as  soon  as  he  was  mounted,  they  ty'd  his  legs  under  the 
mare's  belly,  hung  about  his  neck  some  pipes,  a  fidle,  and  a  timbrel, 
and  would  needs  make  him  play  on  the  pipes.  He  scap'd  with  his 
punishments,  but  all  the  other  abbots  and  monks  were  either  cut  to 
peices,  or,  with  pikes  and  halbards,  forc'd  into  the  river. 

"  Nay,  he  had  a  particular  longing  for  the  money  of  one  Theodore 
Sircon,  a  rich  merchant.  He  sent  for  him  to  the  camp  near  Novo- 
gorod,  and,  having  fastened  a  rope  about  his  waste,  order'd  him  to  be 
cast  into  the  river,  drawing  him  from  one  side  of  it  to  the  other,  till  he 
was  ready  to  give  up  the  ghost.  Then  he  caus'd  him  to  be  taken  up, 
and  ask'd  him  what  he  had  seen  under  water.  The  merchant  answer'd 
that  he  ha4  seen  a  great  number  of  devils  thronging  about  the  tyrant's 


NOVOGOROB  THE  GREAT. 


'39 


SOul,  to  carry  it  along  with  them  to  hell.  The  tyrant  reply'd,  '  Thou 
art  in  the  right  on  t,  but  it  is  just  I  should  reward  thee  for  thy 
prophecy,"  whereupon  calling  for  seething  oil,  he  caus'd  his  feet  to  be 
put  into  it,  and  continu'd  there,  till  he  had  promis'd  to  pay  him  ten 
thousand  crowns,  which  done,  he  caus'd  him  to  be  cut  to  peices,  with 
his  brother,  Alexis." — Travels  of  the  Ambassadors  of  Holstein  into 
Muscovy. 

From  this  decimation  the  town  never  recovered,  and  it 
finally  collapsed  when  St.  Petersburg  was  built.     It  once 


SOPHIA   OF   NOVOGOROD. 


had  different  circles  like  Moscow,  and  the  outer  circle 
included  the  great  convents,  which  are  now  seen  stranded 
far  away  in  the  grassy  plain.  The  commercial  portion  of 
the  town  is  most  miserable,  but  it  retains  its  Gostinnoi 
Dvor  or  bazar,  with  its  covered  galleries  and  "  guests' 
yard "  for  foreign  merchants.  In  the  twelfth  century 
endless  foreign  traders  flocked  to  Novogorod  as  a  center. 


146  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

They  were  divided  into  "  winter  and  summer  merchants." 
The  government  undertook  at  a  fixed  price  to  send  boat- 
men to  meet  them  as  far  as  Igera  ;  for  these  merchants, 
to  evade  the  cataracts  of  the  Neva  and  Volkoff,  discharged 
their  merchandise  into  light  boats.  A  particular  quarter 
of  Novogorod  was  assigned  where  the  traders  from  Ger- 
many and  the  Isle  of  Gothland  enjoyed  perfect  independ- 
ence, subject  to  their  own  laws,  for  the  execution  of  which 
they  chose  the  elders  of  their  own  body  ;  the  ambassador 
of  the  prince  alone  had  the  right  of  entering  their  quar- 
ter. The  Gothlanders  had  a  chapel  dedicated  to  St.  Olaf 
at  Novogorod,  and  the  Germans  a  church  dedicated  to 
St.  Peter.  The  Novogorodians  had  also  a  church  in 
Gothland.  It  was  the  generous  friendship  of  the  foreign 
merchants  alone  which  preserved  Novogorod  from  total 
ruin  in  1231,  by  gifts  of  corn,  when,  after  an  early  winter 
had  destroyed  the  harvest,  forty-two  thousand  people  had 
perished  of  starvation,  and  the  survivors  lived  on  moss, 
leaves,  bark,  cats,  dogs,  and  had  even  killed  one  another 
for  food. 

Now,  there  is  no  life  left  in  the  bazar  ;  customers  are 
so  rare.  The  principal  trade  seems  to  be  that  of  icons. 
These  generally  represent  Bogotez  (God  the  Father)  or 
Bog  Sun  (God  the  Son),  or  the  Holy  Trinity,  or  the 
Bogoroditza  (Mother  of  God)  in  Russian  costume  as  the 
Kazan  or  Iberian  Mother.  Next  comes  St.  Nicholas, 
being  to  the  common  people,  in  the  world  of  spirits,  what 
the  heir  to  the  throne  is  in  the  political  world.1 

"  It  is  to  St.  Nicholas  that  at  the  present  day  the  peasant  turns  most 
readily  for  help,  and  it  is  he  whom  the  legends  represent  as  being  the 
most  prompt  of  all  the  heavenly  host  to  assist  the  unfortunate  among 
mankind.  Thus  in  one  of  the  old  stories  a  peasant  is  driving  along  a 
heavy  road  one  autumn  day,  when  his  cart  sticks  fast  in  the  mire.  Just 
then  .St.  Kasian  comes  by. 

"  '  Help  me,  brother,  to  get  my  cart  out  of  the  mud  !'  says  the 
peasant. 

'  '  Get  along  with  you! '  replies  St.  Kasian.  '  Do  you  suppose  I've 
got  leisure  to  be  dawdling  here  with  you  ? ' 

' '  Presently  St.  Nicholas  comes  that  way.  The  peasant  addresses 
the  same  request  to  him,  and  he  stops  and  gives  the  required  assist- 
ance. 

"  When  the  two  saints  arrive  in  heaven,  the  Lord  asks  them  where 
they  have  been. 

i  See  Kohl. 


NOVOGOROD  THE  GREAT.  141 

"  '  I  have  been  on  the  earth,'  says  St.  Kasian,  'and  I  happened  to 
pass  by  a  moujik  whose  cart  had  stuck  in  the  mud.  He  cried  out  to 
me,  saying,  '  Help  me  to  get  my  cart  out ! '  But  I  was  not  going  to 
spoil  my  heavenly  apparel.' 

"  '  I  have  been  on  the  earth, '  says  St.  Nicholas,  whose  clothes  were 
all  covered  with  mud  ;  '  I  went  along  the  same  road  and  helped  the 
moujik  to  get  his  cart  free.' 

"  Then  the  Lord  says,  'Listen,  Kasian  !  Because  thou  didst  not 
assist  the  moujik,  therefore  shall  men  honor  thee  by  thanksgiving 
once  only  in  every  four  years.  But  to  thee,  Nicholas,  because  thou 
didst  assist  the  moujik  to  set  free  his  cart,  shall  men  twice  every  year 
offer  up  thanksgiving.' 

"  '  Ever  since  that  time,'  says  the  story,  '  it  has  been  customary  to 


CHAPEL   ON   THE   BRIDGE   OF  NOVOGOROD. 

offer  prayers  and  thanksgiving  (molebnut)  to  Nicholas  twice  a  year, 
but  to  Kasian  only  once  every  leap  year.'" — Ralston,  "  Russian 
Folk  Tales."  From  the  "  Legend 'id"  of  Afanasief. 

Almost  all  the  historic  buildings  on  the  northern  shore 
of  the  Volkoff  have  perished  in  the  different  conflagra- 
tions which  have  ravaged  the  city,  including  the  church 
of  St.  George,  in  which  Theodosia,  mother  of  Alexander 
Nevskoi,  was  buried  by  her  son  Feodor  in  1244. 

The  arms  of  Novogorod,  which  we  see  frequently 
repeated,  somewhat  ludicrously  commemorate  the  first 
establishment  of  Christianity.  Two  bears,  supporters, 
are  represented  at  an  altar  upon  the  ice,  with  crucifixes 


142  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

crossed  before  the  Bogh,  on  which  is  placed  a  candela- 
brum with  a  triple  luster,  emblem  of  the  Trinity.  We 
sometimes  also  see  representations  of  the  two-headed 
eagle,  the  arms  of  the  Greek  empire,  which  Ivan  the  Great 
assumed  on  his  marriage  with  Sophia  Paleologus,  and 
which  the  sovereigns  of  Russia  still  retain. 

At  the  entrance  of  the  bridge  is  a  chapel,  before  which 
all  drivers  cross  themselves,  and  where  every  peasant  in 
passing  leaves  a  candle  or  a  penny,  but  where  beggars 
prostrate  and  touch  the  earth  with  their  foreheads  after 
each  sign  of  the  cross  which  they  make. 

A  strange  disturbance  of  the  waters  below  the  bridge, 
which  always  prevents  the  river  from  freezing  there,  is 
supposed  to  be  due  to  the  spirits  of  those  drowned  here 
by  Ivan  the  Terrible,  when,  as  the  Russians  ironically 
said,  the  "  waters  of  the  river  were  used  to  assuage  the 
fury  of  their  father." 

The  ancient  bridge  of  the  Volkoff  is  celebrated  in  the 
epic  songs — the  bylines — of  Novogorod.  It  was  here 
that  the  hero  Vassili  Boulaevitch,  with  his  faithful 
droujinaf  standing  up  to  his  knees  in  blood,  kept  in 
check  the  moujiks  of  Novogorod,  whom  he  had  defied  to 
combat. 

How  striking  the  view  is  over  the  broad  expanse  of 
the  beautiful  and  limpid  river  which  Russians  believe  to 
have  flowed  back  toward  its  source  as  a  presage  of  the 
misfortunes  which  followed  the  death  of  Yaroslaf  ! 2  At 
the  same  time  that  the  famous  statue  of  Peroun,  the  god 
of  thunder,  was  thrown  into  the  river  at  Kieff  by  Vladi- 
mir, a  similar  statue  of  the  god,  which  stood  on  the 
banks  of  this  river,  made  of  wood,  with  a  silver  head 
and  golden  mustaches,  was  thrown  into  the  Volkoff. 

Beyond  the  river  rise  the  red  walls  of  the  Kremlin,  the 
ancient  acropolis,  with  towers  which  recall  the  encircling 
wreath  of  Lucerne.  The  steep  bank  from  which  it  rises 
is  overgrown  with  wild  geranium,  much  used  in  Russia 
for  dressing  all  kinds  of  wounds.  The  form  of  the  fort- 
ress is  oval.  In  fulfillment  of  a  horrible  religious  custom, 

1  The  immediate  followers  of  the  early  heroes  and  of  the  early  Grand-Princes — 
their  body-guard  in  time  of  war,  their  council  in  time   of  peace — were  thus  called. 
The  droujina  generally  included  a  bard,  who,  at  banquets  or  festivals,  recited  the 
deeds  of  Askold,  Dir,  Oleg,  and  other  Varangian  heroes. 

2  See  Karamsin. 


THE  KREMLIN  OF  NOVOGOROD.  143 

its  first  stone  was  laid  on  a  living  child.  It  was  rebuilt 
in  1491  by  Solario  of  Milan  for  Ivan  the  Great,  as  is 
recorded  in  an  inscription  over  the  gate.  Amongst  the 
many  remarkable  scenes  which  the  ancient  walls  of  Nov- 
ogorod  have  witnessed,  perhaps  the  most  striking  was 
that  in  1170,  when,  terrified  by  the  fate  of  the  churches  of 
Kieff,  which  had  been  pillaged  by  invaders,  the  whole 
people  swore  to  give  up  the  last  drop  of  their  blood  in 
defense  of  St.  Sophia.  The  archbishop  Ivan,  followed 
by  all  the  clergy,  took  the  image  of  the  Virgin  and  car- 
ried it  to  the  walls.  While  the  chant  of  the  sacred  hymn 
mingled  with  the  cries  of  the  combatants,  one  of  the 
shower  of  arrows  which  fell  within  the  fortress  pierced 
the  holy  icon,  which  is  said  to  have  deluged  the  robes  of 
the  archbishop  with  its  tears.  In  any  case,  something 
occurred  which  caused  a  panic  to  seize  the  besiegers,  and 
the  people  of  Novogorod,  obtaining  a  brilliant  victory, 
instituted  the  festival  of  November  27  in  honor  of  the 
Virgin  to  commemorate  their  deliverance.1 

Within  the  walls  of  the  Kremlin,  which  once  contained 
eighteen  churches  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  houses,  is  now 
for  the  most  part  an  open  space.  The  first  object  which 
catches  the  eye  of  a  stranger  is  the  bell-like  Monument, 
erected  in  1862,  to  commemorate  the  thousandth  anni- 
versary of  the  Russian  empire,  for  it  was  in  862  that  the 
Slavonians  invited  the  Variag  tribe  called  Rus  to  send 
them  rulers,  and  three  brothers  accepted  the  office — 
Ruric  in  Novogorod,  Sineo  in  Bielo-ozero,  Truvor  in 
Iborsk.  The  other  brothers  died  ;  but  Ruric  the  Rus 
ruled  and  administered  justice,  whence  the  name  of 
Russia.  On  the  right  of  the  road  are  the  belfry,  the 
cathedral,  the  bishop's  palace,  and  the  veche  tower — an 
historic  group  of  marvelous  interest. 

The  strange  low  cathedral  of  St.  Sophia,  though,  like 
all  Russian  churches,  much  spoiled  externally  by  white- 
wash, is,  with  its  many  gilded  domes,  most  quaintly  pictur- 
esque. As  of  all  the  older  Russian  churches,  its  model 
is  to  be  found  in  Constantinople.  It  was  founded  in 
1044  by  Vladimir  Yaroslovitch  on  the  site  of  a  wooden 
church,  which  was  built  c.  1000  by  the  first  archbishop, 
Joachim,  and  it  was  finished  in  1051. 

i  Karamsin,  iii. 


144 


STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 


"  A  magnificent  monument  of  the  glorious  times  of  Yaroslaf 
remains  to  us  in  the  temple  of  St.  Sophia  of  Novogorod,  erected  by 
Vladimir,  son  of  Yaroslaf,  who  died  while  only  a  youth,  and  was 
buried  there  together  with  his  mother.  This  church  has  not  suffered 
materially  either  from  wars  or  time,  and  has  been  preserved  in  all  its 
grandeur,  as  a  jewel  above  price  to  the  country." — Mouravieff, 
"  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  Russia,"  ch.  ii. 

It  is  probably  owing  to  the  decline  of  the  city  of 
Novogorod  that  its  principal  church  has  been  so  little 
altered  or  modernized  from  the  earliest  times.  Its 
bronze  doors,  of  Italian  twelfth-century  work,  recall 


CATHEDRAL  OF  ST.  SOPHIA,  NOVOGOROD. 


those  of  St.  Zenone  at  Verona.  They  were  brought 
hither  from  Cherson,  where  Vladimir  the  Great  was  bap- 
tized, and  were  a  gift  to  Novogorod  from  the  famous 
Archbishop  Basil,  endeared  to  the  people  from  his  self- 
devotion  during  the  terrible  visitation  of  the  plague 
called  the  Black  Death  in  1349,  in  which  he  himself 
became  the  victim  of  his  Christian  patience  and  fortitude. 
This  church  of  St.  Sophia  has  served  as  a  type  for 
thousands  of  later  Russian  churches,  as  the  constant 
wars  of  the  country  and  the  dread  of  Tartar  invasions 
have  prevented  any  development  of  art  in  Russia, 
though,  indeed,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances, 


sr.   SOPHIA  Of  NOVOGOROD.  145 

the  Slavonic  race  has  seemed  incapable  of  architectural 
development.  All  the  great  churches  at  Kieff  are  by 
Greek,  those  at  Moscow  by  Italian  or  German,  those  at 
St.  Petersburg  by  Italian,  German  or  French  artists, 
though,  in  each  case,  only  second-class  foreigners  have 
been  employed. 

Glorious  is  the  blaze  of  color  solemnized  by  the  dim 
light  which  pervades  the  interior:  The  heavy  pillars 
support  tall,  narrow,  round  arches.  The  walls  are  covered 
with  frescoes  on  a  golden  ground,  resembling  those 
painted  at  St.  Maria  Novella  by  Greek  artists  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  which  so  struck  Cimabue,  and  made 
him  steal  away  from  school  to  watch  them  ;  probably 
these  are  by  artists  from  Constantinople.  The  chronicles 
of  Novogorod  recount  that  Christ  appeared  to  the  artist, 
who  was  charged  to  paint  the  cupola,  and  said,  "  Do  not 
represent  me  with  a  hand  extended  in  blessing,  but  with 
a  hand  closed  ;  for  in  that  hand  I  hold  Novogorod,  and 
when  it  opens  the  town  will  perish."  1 

Magnificent  bronze  candlesticks  stand  in  front  of  the 
golden  iconastos,  and  above  waves  the  banner  of  the 
Virgin,  which,  displayed  upon  the  city  walls,  has  so  often 
encouraged  the  imprisoned  citizens  to  resist  their 
besiegers.  Here  also,  as  in  all  the  most  important 
Russian  churches,  a  throne  like  a  pulpit  (to  stand,  not  sit 
in)  is  placed  before  the  altar,  prepared  for  any  sudden 
appearance  of  the  Emperor. 

In  the  dim  splendor  and  magnificence  of  this  cathedral 
we  find  the  especial  burial-place  of  the  saints  of  north- 
western Russia.  Raised  aloft  to  the  right  of  the  altar  is 
the  archbishop  St.  Nikita,  whose  prayers  extinguished  a 
great  conflagration  in  the  city,  and  who  has  a  silver  tomb, 
bearing  a  gilded  effigy  of  the  venerable  old  man.  Behind, 
nearer  the  entrance,  under  gates  studded  with  jewels,  is 
the  Grand  Prince,  St.  Mistislaf  the  Brave  (1176), 
"  who  feared  nothing  but  God,"  and  bravely  defended 
Novogorod  against  the  powerful  Andrew  of  Sonsdalia. 
His  dead  hand,  perfectly  black,  is  left  exposed  to  the 
kisses  of  the  faithful :  *  the  rest  of  his  body  is  covered 
writh  cere-cloth. 

1  Rambaud,  p.  115. 

2  For  centuries  in  the  Church  of  Alexandria,  and  still  in  the  Church  of  Armenia, 


146  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

"  The  boyars  and  the  citizens  showed  the  most  touching  feeling,  in 
the  evidence  of  their  grief  for  the  death  of  Mistislaf  the  Brave,  a 
prince  generally  beloved.  They  delighted  to  speak  of  his  manly 
beauty,  of  his  victories  ;  to  recall  his  generous  projects  for  the  glory 
of  his  country,  his  simple  goodness  united  to  all  the  fire  and  all  the 
pride  of  a  noble  heart.  This  prince,  according  to  the  evidence  of  his 


INTERIOR  OF  ST.   SOPHIA,   NOVOGOROD. 


contemporaries,  was  the  ornament  of  his  age  and  of  Russia ;  while 
others  made  conquests  from  avarice,  he  never  fought  except  for  glory. 
He  despised  gold  more  than  dangers,  and  gave  up  all  his  spoils  to  the 
churches  and  to  his  warriors,  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  encourage 
in  battle  by  these  words — '  God  and  right  are  on  our  side  ;  we  may 

the  dead  hand  of  the  first  bishop  has  been  employed  as  the  instrument  of  conse- 
cration in  each  succeeding  generation. 


ST.   SOPHIA  OF  NOVOGOROD.  147 

die  to-day  or  to-morrow,  but  at  least  we  die  with  honor.'  There  was 
no  part  of  Russia  which  did  not  wish  to  obey  him,  and  where  he  was 
not  sincerely  lamented." — Karamsin,  iii. 

In  the  eastern  aisle  rests  St.  Anne,  mother  of  Mistislaf, 
daughter  of  the  Eastern  emperor  Romanus,  with  Alex- 
andra, sister-in-law  of  Mistislaf,  and  his  father  Vladimir, 
son  of  Yaroslaf  the  Great,  1020.  In  the  northern  aisle, 
raised  as  on  a  bed,  is  St.  Ivan.  His  aged  veined  hands 
are  visible,  and  the  lid  of  his  sarcophagus  can  be  raised 
so  as  to  disclose  his  face.  Another  tomb  (brought  from 
the  monastery  of  St.  George)  is  that  of  Feodor,  brother 
of  St.  Alexander  Nevskoi,  who  died  in  1228. 

"  The  bones  of  a  martyr  are  inoffensive  and  passive.  A  man  must 
be  indeed  brutalized  who  can  deny  to  them  that  honor  and  affection 
which  even  heathens  sometimes  bestow  by  natural  instinct  on  the 
remains  of  their  dead.  Nor  will  he  deny  that  such  honor  and  affec- 
tion may  be  expressed  outwardly,  as  well  as  felt  inwardly  :  and  in  con- 
formity with  established  custom,  as  well  as  incidentally  of  spontaneous 
emotion.  And  if  it  chance  that  a  sick  man  or  a  demoniac  approach 
the  relics  of  a  martyr  and  is  healed,  or  if  a  blind  man  receives  his  sight, 
there  is  no  room  to  quarrel  either  with  the  martyr  who  sought  no  wor- 
ship, or  with  the  relics  which  are  inanimate,  or  with  the  man  healed, 
who,  perhaps,  uttered  no  word,  or  with  the  free  grace  and  power  of 
God. " — Palmer. 

It  was  in  this  church  that  Alexander  Nevskoi,  the  great 
"  defender  of  the  orthodox  faith,"  kneeled  to  receive  the 
benediction  of  the  archbishop  Spiridion  before  going 
forth  against  the  Scandinavian  army  to  gain  his  famous 
victory.  To  this  he  was  encouraged  by  the  report  of  a 
vision.  A  boat  manned  by  two  radiant  warriors  had  been 
seen  to  glide  through  the  night :  they  were  the  sainted 
brothers  Boris  and  Gleb,  who  had  come  to  insure  his 
success. 

In  the  Sacristy,  amongst  other  relics,  is  shown  the 
white  miter  of  the  famous  archbishop  Basil,1  sent  to  him 
by  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople.  Basil  was  the  first 
Russian  archbishop  to  receive  pontifical  habits  adorned 
with  the  cross.  A  miter  of  the  same  kind  in  Greece 
was  formerly  the  attribute  of  a  bishop  who  was  not  a 
monk.2 

i  This  archbishop  (1340)  looked  for  Paradise  in  the  White  Sea,  and  believed  the 
statement  of  some  merchants  of  Novogorod  that  they  had  seen  it  in  the  distance, 
1  See  Karamsin,  iv, 


148  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

"  '  Their  war-cry  bore  testimony  to  the  piety  of  our  ancestors  ;  the 
cathedral  church  was  the  heart  of  each  of  their  cities,  and  its  name 
served  as  the  pledge  of  victory.  For  St.  Sophia  ! '  '  For  the  House 
of  the  most  holy  Trinity  ! '  resounded  terribly  in  the  ranks  of  Novo- 
gorod  and  Pskoff,  when  their  hero-saints  overthrew  the  Swedes  or  the 
Sword-bearers. ' ' — Mouravieff. 

Close  to  the  cathedral  stands  the  Palace  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Novogorod)  who  long  played  so  important  a  part 
in  history. 

"  II  est  le  premier  personnage  en  dignite  de  la  republique.  '  Bene- 
diction de  la  part  de  1'archeveque  Mo'ise,dit  une  lettre  patente  ;  salut  du 
possadnik  Daniel  et  du  tysatski  Abraham.'  Sur  le  prince  il  a  cette 
supe'riorite  d'etre  un  enfant  du  pays,  tandis  que  le  descendant  de  Rou- 
rik  est  un  etranger.  En  revanche  les  revenus  du  prelat,  le  tresor  de 
Sainte-Sophie,  sont  au  service  de  la  republique.  Au  quatorzieme  siecle, 
nous  voyons  deux  archeveques  clever  aleurs  frais,  1'un  les  tours,  1'autre 
un  kremlin  de  pierre.  Au  quinzieme  siecle,  les  richesses  de  la  cathe- 
drale  sont  employees  au  rachat  des  prisonniers  russes  enleves  par  les 
Lithuaniens.  C'est  une  eglise  essentiellement  nationale  que  celle  de 
Novogorod  ;  les  ecclesiastiques  se  melent  des  affaires  temporelles,  et 
les  lai'ques  des  affaires  spirituelles." — Rambaud,  "  Hist,  de  la  Russie." 

In  the  pretty  green  courtyard  near  the  Archbishop's 
Palace  is  the  picturesque  tower  in  which  the  bell  of  the 
Vetche*  hung  till  it  was  carried  off  to  Moscow — the  famous 
bell  which  summoned  the  council  which  had  the  power 
of  deposing  or  imprisoning  princes,  electing  archbishops, 
deciding  peace  and  war,  and  judging  the  criminals  of 
state — the  majority  having  always  the  resource  of  drown- 
ing the  minority  in  the  Volkoff !  Sometimes  the  assem- 
bly met  at  St.  Sophia,  sometimes  in  the  Court  of  Yaroslaf 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river  ;  and  Novogorod  has  even 
seen  two  rival  vetches  and  their  adherents  come  to  blows 
upon  its  bridge.3 

One  of  the  most  singular  services  which  a  foreigner 
can  attend  in  these  historic  Russian  churches  is  the 
annual  cursing  of  heretics,  political  as  well  as  religious, 
in  which  anathemas  are  called  down  upon  a  number  of 
people  by  name — on  the  false  Demetrius,  on  Boris 
Godunoff,  Mazeppa,  Senka  Rasin,  and  Pugatsheff 
amongst  the  political  heretics.  The  mention  of  each 
is  followed  by  a  thunder  of  "  anafema,  anafema."  With 
Boris  Godunoff  alone  is  a  distinction  made  ;  for  though 

i  The  word  vech  means  assembly.  2  See  Rambaud,  p.  no. 


ST.  SOPHIA  OF  NOVOGOROD.  149 

an  unpopular  he  was  a  wise  ruler,  and  well  disposed  to 
the  priests — "  For  the  good  he  wrought  may  he  enjoy  the 
heavenly  blessing;  for  the  evil,  '  anafema,  anafema.'  " 
After  the  last  anathema  follows  a  prayer  for  the  whole 
house  of  Romanoff  and  all  its  descendants,  past  and 
present — and  blessings  are  called  down  upon  them  and 
upon  their  memory. 

The  singing  in  these  old  churches  is  often  most  beau- 
tiful and  striking,  while  strangers  have  a  great  loss  in 
seldom  understanding  the  words. 

"In  the  greater  Compline,  which  is  used  at  certain  seasons,  there 
is  a  manifest  relic  of  those  primitive  times  when  the  Church  was  in 
catacombs  under  Jewish  and  heathen  persecution.  And  it  is  impos- 
sible to  hear  the  singing  of  this  relic  without  feeling  ourselves  to  be 
as  it  were  breathed  upon  by  the  breath  of  that  living  energy  which 
first  selected  and  accommodated  its  words  from  those  of  the  prophet 
Isaiah. 

"  'God  is  with  us!  understand,  O  ye  nations,  and  submit  your- 
selves :  for  God  is  with  us  ! '  '  Ki  Immanu  El.'  This  is  sung  first 
by  the  choir  on  one  side.  Then  the  same  a  second  time  by  the  choir 
on  the  other  side  :  then  as  follows,  verse  and  verse  alternately — 

Give  ear  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth  :  for  God  is  with  us  ! 

Ye  mighty,  submit  yourselves  :  for  God  is  with  us  ! 

For  if  ye  wax  powerful  again,  ye  shall  again  be  broken  in  pieces  : 
for  God  is  with  us  ! 

And  though  ye  take  counsel  together,  the  Lord  shall  bring  it  to 
naught :  for  God  is  with  us  ! 

And  if  ye  speak  the  word  it  shall  not  stand  :  for  God  is  with  us  ! 

Your  terror  will  we  not  fear,  neither  be  troubled  :  for  God  is  with 
us! 

But  the  Lord  our  God,  Him  will  we  sanctify,  and  He  shall  be  our 
fear  :  for  God  is  with  us  ! 

And  if  I  trust  in  Him,  he  shall  be  unto  me  for  a  sanctuary  :  for 
God  is  with  us. 

And  I  will  trust  in  Him,  and  I  shall  be  saved  through  Him  :  for 
God  is  with  us  ! 

Behold  I,  and  the  children  whom  the  Lord  hath  given  me  :  for 
God  is  with  us  ! 

The  people  that  walked  in  darkness  have  seen  a  great  light :  for 
God  is  with  us  ! 

We  that  dwell  in  the  valley  and  shadow  of  death,  upon  us  hath  the 
light  shined  :  for  God  is  with  us  ! 

For  unto  us  a  child  is  born,  unto  us  a  Son  is  given  :  for  God  is  with  us  ! 

And  His  name  shall  be  called  The  Messenger  of  the  Great  Counsel: 
for  God  is  with  us  ! 

Wonderful,  Counselor  :  for  God  is  with  us  ! 

The  mighty  God,  the  Lord  of  power,  the  Prince  of  peace  :  for  God 
is  with  us  ! 


l$0  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

The  Father  of  the  world  to  come  :  for  God  is  with  us  ! 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Gliost : 
for  God  is  with  us  ! 

Both  now,  and  ever,  and  world  without  end,  Amen  :  for  God  is 
with  us  ! 

"And,  lastly,  both  the  choirs  sing  together  '  For  God  is  with  us  !' 
(' Ni  Immanu-El ')" — W.  Palmer,  ''Dissertations  on  the  Orthodox 
Communion." 

The  saints  (not  Biblical,  after  the  Virgin  and  Apostles) 
mentioned  in  the  Offertory  or  Celebration  of  the  Divine 
Mystery  are — 

"Our  holy  fathers  the  priests,  Basil  the  Great,  Gregory  the 
Divine,  and  John  Chrysostom,  Athanasius  and  Cyril,  Nicholas  of 
Myra  in  Lycia,  Peter  and  Alexis,  and  Jonas  and  Philip  of  Moscow, 
Nicetas,  bishop  of  Novogorod  ;  Moetias,  bishop  of  Rostoff,  and  all 
holy  high  priests. 

"  The  great  apostle,  proto-martyr,  and  archdeacon  Stephen;  the 
holy  and  great  martys  Demetrius,  Georgius,  Diodorus  the  tyrant, 
Diodorus  the  warrior,  and  holy  martyrs,  men  and  women — Thecla, 
Barbara,  Cyriaca,  Euphemia,  Parascovia,  and  Catharina,  and  all  holy 
female  martyrs. 

"  Our  venerable  and  inspired  fathers,  Anthonius,  Euthymius,  Sab- 
bas,  Onuphrius,  Athanasius  of  Mount  Athos,  Antonius  and  Theodo- 
sius  of  Pecherskoi,  Sergius  of  Radonige,  Balaam  of  Chutuiski,  and  all 
venerable  fathers  ;  and  all  venerable  matrons — Pelagia,  Theodosia, 
Anastasia,  Eupraxia,  Pleuronia,  Theodulia,  Euphrosyne,  Mary  of 
Egypt  and  all  holy  and  venerable  matrons. 

"  The  holy  wonder-workers,  the  disinterested  Cosmas  and  Damia- 
nus,  Cyrus  and  John,  Pantaleon  and  Hermolaus,  and  all  unmerce- 
nary  saints. 

"  The  holy  and  venerable  parents  of  God,  Joachim  and  Anna  (and 
the  saint  whose  day  it  is),  and  all  saints. 

"  By  the  intercession  of  these,  look  down  upon  us,  O  God."  * 

At  Novogorod  we  were  first  present  at  one  of  the 
singular  services  called  a  Moleben.  When  any  one  has  a 
particular  act  in  view,  or  day  in  the  calendar  with  an 
especially  dear  association,  or  when  he  wishes  to  offer 
especial  thanksgivings,  he  goes  to  the  priest  and  gives 
him  a  rouble  for  a  Moleben.  The  priest  takes  him  into 
the  church,  and,  assisted  by  an  inferior  priest,  reads 
prayers,  sings,  and  burns  incense,  while  he  in  whose 
behalf  it  is  done  bows  and  crosses  himself  without 
ceasing.  The  prayer  is  not  addressed  to  God,  but  to 
the  Angel  Chranitel  or  Guardian  Angel ;  hence  the  Mole- 

j  See  King. 


ST.  ANTHONY.  151 

ben  is  often  read  on  the  name-day,  which  should  rather 
be  called  the  day  of  the  guardian  angel,  held  so  sacred 
by  the  Russians. 

St.  Anthony  the  Roman  is  said  to  have  started  from 
Italy  on  a  medieval  voyage.  With  a  millstone  round  his 
neck  he  was  thrown  into  the  Tiber,  and  thus,  in  two 
days  and  nights,1  he  passed  from  the  Mediterranean  into 
the  Atlantic,  and  by  the  Baltic  and  the  Neva  to  Lake 
Ladoga,  whence  the  Volkoff  brought  him  hither — "  the 
rivers  of  Russia  being  the  threads  by  which  its  religious 
destinies  have  always  been  curiously  interwoven."2  St. 
Anthony  is  commemorated  at  Novogorod  by  the  great 
convent  of  his  name. 

"  Opposite  the  Kremlin,  on  the  same  side  with  the  city,  is  the  con- 
vent of  St.  Anthony,  who  came  from  Rome  on  a  millstone,  down  the 
Tiber,  across  the  sea,  and  by  the  Volga  to  Novogorod.  By  the  way 
he  met  certain  fishermen,  with  whom  he  bargained  for  the  first 
draught  they  should  take,  and  they  brought  up  a  chest  full  of  priest's 
vestments  to  say  mass  in,  books,  and  money.  The  saint  afterward 
built  a  chapel  there  in  which  the  Muscovites  say  that  he  lies  interred, 
and  that  his  body  is  there  to  be  seen,  as  entire  as  when  he  departed 
this  world.  Many  miracles  are  wrought  there,  as  they  say  ;  but  th.ey 
permit  not  strangers  to  go  in,  thinking  it  enough  to  show  them  the 
millstone  upon  which  the  saint  performed  this  pretended  voyage,  and 
which  indeed  may  be  seen  lying  against  the  wall." — Travels  of  the 
Ambassadors  of  Hols tein,  1633-1639. 

A  short  excursion  should  be  made  from  Novogorod  to 
the  magnificent  Yurieff  Monastery,  the  finest  of  those 
whose  golden  domes  gleam  across  the  green  plain  of  the 
Volkoff. 

"  During  the  episcopate  of  St.  Nicetas  (1124-1127),  two  celebrated 
religious  houses  were  founded  in  Great  Novogorod  :  one,  the  Yurieff 
monastery,  by  the  zeal  of  Prince  Mistislaf,  though  some  traditions 
refer  its  foundation  to  Yaroslaf  the  Great ;  the  other,  that  of  St. 
Anthony  the  Roman,  who  sailed  from  the  West  up  the  Volkoff,  and 
lived  as  a  hermit  on  its  banks,  near  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  which  he  is  said  to  have  built.  In  like  manner,  as  in 
Novogorod  and  Kieff,  so  also  in  many  other  chief  district  towns, 
wherever  the  dawn  of  spiritual  enlightenment  so  much  as  penetrated, 
monasteries  were  gradually  formed,  which  spread  it  abroad  over  all 
the  surrounding  parts  ;  and  the  Word  of  God,  carried  about  by  holy 
solitaries,  was  let  fall  into  the  depths  of  the  vales  and  forests  as  the 
quickening  seed  of  a  future  life,  which  should  bring  forth  its  fruit  in 
the  season." — Mouravieff,  "  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  Russia" 

i  Palmer.  2  Stanley's  Eastern  Church, 


152  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

At  Novogorod  we  were  first  in  a  Russian  hotel  where 
the  native  guests  ate  quantities  of  sour  cabbage  and 
cucumbers  and  drank  kvass,  which  tastes  like  vinegar  and 
water  ;  foreigners  dislike  it  at  first,  but  soon  become 
accustomed  to  it. 

' '  Fortunately  it  is  a  light  and  wholesome  beverage.  A  pailful  of 
water  is  put  in  the  evening  into  an  earthern  vessel,  into  which  are 
shaken  two  pounds  of  barley-meal,  half  a  pound  of  salt,  and  a  pound- 
and-a-half  of  honey.  The  mixture  is  put  in  the  evening  into  a  kind  of 
oven,  with  a  moderate  fire,  and  constantly  stirred  ;  in  morning  it  is 
left  for  a  time  to  settle,  and  then  the  clear  liquid  is  poured  off.  The 
kvass  is  then  ready,  and  may  be  drunk  in  a  few  days  ;  in  a  week  it  is 
at  highest  perfection.  As  kvass  is  thought  good  only  when  prepared 
in  small  quantities,  and  in  small  vessels,  every  household  brews  for 
itself.  In  great  houses  a  servant  is  kept  for  this  purpose,  who  finds  in 
it  wherewithal  to  occupy  him  for  a  whole  clay,  and  has  as  many  mys- 
terious observances  in  the  preparation  as  if  it  were  a  spell,  or  as  if  there 
were  as  much  significance  in  his  labors  as  in  those  of  Schiller's  Bell- 
founder." — Kohl. 

As  ordinary  Russians  prefer  food  half-ripe,  they  like 
vegetables  half-cooked  and  hard  as  bullets,  and  eat  their 
bread  half-baked.  One  of  the  favorite  dishes  is  Shtshee. 

"The  mode  of  preparing  this  remarkable  dish  varies  greatly,  and 
there  are  almost  as  many  kinds  of  shtshee  as  of  cabbages.  Six  or  seven 
heads  of  cabbages  chopped  up,  half  a  pound  of  barley-meal,  a  quarter 
of  a  pound  of  butter,  a  handful  of  salt,  and  two  pounds  of  mutton  cut 
into  small  pieces,  with  a  can  or  two  of  'kvass,'  make  an  excellent 
shtshee.  With  the  very  poor  the  butter  and  the  meat  are  of  course 
left  out,  which  reduces  the  composition  to  the  cabbage  and  the  kvass. 
In  the  houses  of  the  wealthy,  on  the  contrary,  many  ingredients  are 
added,  and  rules  laid  down  to  be  closely  observed  ;  '  bouillon'  is  used 
instead  of  kvass,  the  meat  is  salted  and  pressed  for  six-and-thirty  hours, 
and  is  put  raw  to  the  already  boiling  cabbage  ;  thick  cream  is  added, 
and  the  whole  mixture  when  complete  is  pronounced  unsurpassably 
excellent. 

"In  '  Posdnoi  Shtshee'  or  '  Fasting  Shtshee'  fish  is  used  instead  of 
meat,  oil  instead  of  butter,  etc.  The  lower  classes  eat  it  with  a  kind 
of  fish  not  larger  than  a  sprat,  boiled  skin  and  all  to  a  pulp,  and  to 
give  it  additional  flavor  a  portion  of  thick  oil  is  added. 

'  '  Botvinya'  is  another  right  Russian  dish,  and  nearly  akin  to 
shtshee.  The  latter  is  the  staple  of  the  Russian  table  the  whole  year 
through  ;  but  '  Botvinya'  is  only  eaten  in  the  summer.  The  ingre- 
dients, which  are  warm  in  the  shtshee,  are  put  cold  into  the  botvinya, 
cold  kvass,  raw  herbs,  red  berries,  chopped  cucumbers,  and  lastly, 
salmon  or  some  other  fish  cut  into  square  lumps.  At  the  better  tables 
slices  of  lemon  are  sometimes  added,  toasted  black  bread  cut  small, 
and,  to  make  it  yet  cooler,  small  lumps  of  ice." — KohL 


A  USSIAN  HO  TELS.  153 

At  Novogorod,  the  waiter,  who  acted  as  caller  in  the 
morning,  lingered  in  the  room,  perfectly  certain  that  one 
could  not  dress  one's  self — a  relic  of  serfdom.  The  plague 
of  musquitoes  which  is  so  wearisome  at  Novogorod  is 
attributed  to  the  neighboring  forests  and  lake.  It  was 
always  thus. 

"  From  Revel  to  Moscow  are  nothing  but  woods,  fens,  lakes,  and 
rivers,  which  produces  such  abundance  of  flies,  gnats,  and  wasps,  that 
people  have  much  ado  to  keep  them  off,  having  their  faces  so  spotted, 
as  if  they  were  newly  recovered  from  the  small-pox." — Ambassadors 
of  ffolstein,  1633-1639. 

In  the  rugged  street  of  wooden  houses  which  is  now 
the  main  street  of  Novogorod,  we  first  heard  the  street- 
singers,  who  are  so  characteristic  of  Russia,  and  who  have 
carried  on  orally  for  many  hundreds  of  years  its  old  tradi- 
tions and  stories.  They  are  of  two  kinds — the  skaziteli, 
who  sing  for  their  pleasure  and  that  of  their  friends,  and 
the  kalieki,  who  sing  for  their  daily  bread,  wandering 
from  village  to  village,  singing  whatever  they  know,  and 
continually  learning  new  songs,  thus  increasing  and  dis- 
pensing their  poetic  store.1  Among  the  most  popular 
subjects  are  the  story  of  "  Mother  Volga,"  of  "  Vladimir 
— the  beautiful  sun,"  or  the  feasts  of  Ilia  de  Mourom,  the 
Samson  or  Hercules  of  Russian  mythology. 

"  Dans  une  chanson  que  colportent  les  Kalieki,  ils  expliquent  a  leur 
fa$on  comment  a  pris  naissance  leur  corporation.  Elle  a  une  sainte 
origine,  et  c'est  une  mission  divine  qu'ils  ont  re9ue. 

"C'etait  au  milieu  de  1'ete  brulant,  la  veille  de  1' Ascension  du 
Christ ;  la  confrerie  des  pauvres  etait  tout  en  pleurs  :  Helas,  Christ, 
tsar  du  ciel,  a  qui  nous  laisses-tu  ?  a  qui  nous  confies-tu  ?  qui  voudra 
nous  nourrir  ?  qui  nous  donnera  des  vetements  et  des  chaussures,  nous 
protegera  centre  la  sombre  nuit?  Et  le  Christ,  le  tsar  du  ciel,  leur 
dit :  '  Ne  pleurez  pas,  confrerie  des  pauvres,  je  vous  donnerai  une 
montagne  d'or.  Vous  saurez  bien  la  posseder,  la  partager  entre  vous  ; 
alors  vous  serez  rassasies  et  contents,  habilles  et  chausses,  proteges 
centre  la  sombre  nuit.'  Et  Jean  Bouche  d'Or  prend  la  parole: 
4  Christ,  tsar  du  ciel,  permets-moi  de  dire  un  mot  pour  la  confrerie  des 
pauvres,  des  malheureux.  Ne  leur  donne  pas  une  montagne  d'or  ;  ils 
ne  sauront  pas  la  posseder,  ni  prendre  1'or,  ni  le  partager  entre  eux. 
Bientot  decouvriront  cette  montagne  les  princes  et  les  boi'ars.  Bientot 
les  eveques  et  les  puissants,  bientot  les  marchands.  Ils  leur  prendront 
leur  montagne,  leur  montagne  d'or ;  ils  partageront  1'or  entre  les 
princes,  et  les  riches  ne  laisseront  rien  aux  pauvres  diables.  II  sera, 

i  Revue  des  Dcnx-Mondes,  Dec.  15,  1874. 


154  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

1'occasion  de  maint  massacre,  de  maint  egorgement,  et  les  pauvres 
n'auront  rien  pour  vivre.  .  .  .  Donne  a  la  confrerie  des  pauvres  ton 
saint  nom.  Us  s'en  iront  par  le  monde,  ils  glorifieront  le  Christ,  ils 
le  loueront  a  chaque  heure  ;  alors  ils  seront  contents  et  rassasies, 
habilles  et  chausses,  proteges  centre  la  sombre  nuit.'  Et  le  Christ,  le 
roi  du  ciel,  dit  :  '  Tres  bien,  Jean  Bouche  d'Or  !  Tu  as  su  dire  ton 
mot  pour  la  confrerie  des  pauvres  ;  pour  toi  voici  une  bouche  d'or. ' 
Et  nous,  nous  chantons  :  Alleluia  !  " — Alfred  Rambaud,  "  La  Russic 
JSpique." 

"  Les  chanteurs  ne  comprennent  pas  toujours  ce  qu'ils  chantent  :  la 
langue  a  vieilli,  et  plus  d'un  vers  s'est  altere.  Si  on  leur  demande 
compte  d'une  expression  singuliere  ou  d'un  passage  obscur,  ils  repon- 
dent  invariablement :  *  Cela  se  chante  ainsi,'  ou  bien:  '  Les  anciens 
chantaient  ainsi  :  nous  ne  savons  ce  que  celaveut  dire.'  Aucun  detail 
merveilleux  ne  leur  semble  incroyable  ;  ils  admettent  tres  bien  qu'Ilia 
de  Mourom  ait  pu  brandir  une  massue  de  1,600  livres  ou  tuer  d'une 
seule  fois  40,000  brigands.  Ils  pensent  simplement  que  les  hommes 
etaient  plus  forts  en  ce  temps-la  qu'aujourd'hui." — Ibid. 

Tourgueneff  describes  the  song  of  a  peasant  enthusiast 
in  a  trial  of  skill  with  a  rival  in  a  tavern. 

"Yakof  silently  gazed  around  him,  then  he  hid  his  face  in  his 
hands.  Everyone  watched  him  eagerly.  When  he  uncovered  his 
face  it  was  pale  as  that  of  a  corpse,  the  gleam  of  his  eyes  was  scarcely 
seen  through  their  drooping  lashes.  He  sighed  deeply,  and  he  sang. 
The  first  sound  was  feeble  and  hesitating,  and  did  not  seem  to  come 
from  his  chest,  but  from  far  away,  as  if  an  accident  had  wafted  it  into 
the  room.  This  so-trembling  sound  produced  a  weird  effect  upon  us  ; 
we  looked  at  one  another,  and  the  wife  of  the  publican  shuddered. 
The  first  sound  was  followed  by  another,  firmer  and  more  prolonged, 
but  still  quite  trembling  ;  one  might  have  said  that  a  cord  had  been 
suddenly  set  in  motion,  and  was  breathing  its  last  sigh.  Then  the 
song,  gaining  warmth  and  breath,  burst  forth  in  floods  of  melodious  sad- 
ness. .  .  .  Rarely  can  I  say  that  I  have  heard  a  voice  equal  to  it ;  its 
powers  were  perhaps  upon  the  wane,  and  even  slightly  broken  ;  it  may 
have  had  something  of  weakness,  but  in  its  depths  were  true  and  deep 
passion,  youth  and  power,  sweetness,  and  a  melancholy — appealing, 
captivating.  A  true  ardent  Russian  soul  breathed  forth  in  it  and  went 
straight  to  your  heart.  The  song  continued.  Yakof  passed  into  a 
kind  of  ecstasy  ;  his  timidity  had  disappeared :  his  genius  held  pos- 
session of  him.  His  voice  no  longer  hesitated,  though  it  still 
trembled,  but  it  was  with  that  inward  trembling  beyond  the  reach  of 
passion,  which  strikes  like  an  arrow  to  the  heart  of  the  auditor  :  it  even 
rose  and  rose  higher  in  its  intensity.  .  .  .  He  sang,  entirely  oblivious 
of  his  rival  and  of  all  of  us  ;  yet,  like  a  bold  swimmer  borne  upon  the 
waves,  he  was  stimulated  by  our  silent  and  passionate  sympathy.  He 
sang,  and  every  note  breathed  forth  an  inexpressible  degree  of 
nationality,  of  space  ;  it  was  as  if  the  steppe  unrolled  before  us  in  its 
distant  jfifinity.  I  felt  my  heart  swell,  and  my  eyes  fill  with  tears. 
Smothered  sobs  suddenly  drew  my  attention  ;  I  looked  ...  it  was 


RUSSIAN  SINGERS.  15$ 

the  wife  of  the  tavern-keeper  who  was  weeping,  leaning  against  the 
window.  Yakof  rapidly  glanced  at  her,  and  his  voice  took  a  softer 
intonation.  The  tavern-keeper  was  buried  in  thought  ;  Morgatch 
had  turned  aside  ;  Obaldou'i,  as  if  petrified,  sat  open-mouthed  ;  the 
peasant  in  the  gray  clothes  sobbed  quietly  in  a  corner,  and  shook  his 
head  with  a  low  moan  ;  upon  the  bronzed  face  of  Sauvage,  and  from 
his  motionless  eyelashes,  rolled  a  great  tear  ;  the  rival  lifted  his  closed 
fist  to  the  sky.  We  were  all  so  overcome  that  I  do  not  know  what 
would  have  become  of  us  if  Yakof  had  not  stopped  suddenly  short 
upon  one  of  his  highest,  most  ringing  notes.  No  one  uttered  a  sound, 
no  one  moved,  all  seemed  to  wait  what  was  coming.  Yakof  stared  as 
if  our  silence  astonished  him  ;  then,  having  looked  at  us  with  a  ques- 
tioning air,  he  saw  that  the  victory  was  his." — The  Singers. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MOSCOW. 

(THE  INNER  CIRCLES.) 

FORMERLY  the  journey  from  Novogorod  to  Mos- 
cow was  most  painfully  accomplished  in  ninety 
hours  in  a  kibitka — a  cart,  or  rather  a  cradle  for  two,  in 
which  the  driver,  wrapped  in  his  long  great-coat,  called 
an  armiak,  sat  close  to  the  horses'  tails,  the  hinder  part 
of  the  cart  being  shaded  by  a  semicircular  hood  of  laths 
covered  with  birch  bark.  These  vehicles  have  no  springs, 
and  are  fastened  together  by  wooden  pegs.  The  luggage 
is  placed  at  the  bottom,  and  covered  by  a  mattress,  upon 
which  an  abundant  supply  of  feather-beds  alone  renders 
the  jolting  endurable.  The  drivers  wear  belts  with  bells 
afrlxed  to  them,  though  they  have  to  procure  an  order 
(poderosnoy)  which  is  necessary  for  this.  In  winter 
1,000  sledges  bearing  food  from  Moscow  to  St.  Peters- 
burg used  to  travel  along  the  main  road  daily,  sometimes 
accomplishing  the  journey  in  twenty-four  hours. 

Now,  happily,  it  is  only  necessary  to  resort  to  kibitkas 
in  out-of-the-way  places,  and  the  Russian  railways  would 
be  luxurious,  if  it  were  not  for  the  strong  tobacco  which 
all  the  natives  smoke  incessantly  in  every  carriage,  even 
ladies  demolishing  ten  or  twelve  cigarettes  during  a  night. 
There  is  a  long  halt  at  Tchudova,  where  trains  are 
changed  and  where  there  is  an  excellent  buffet,  though 
those  who  are  unaccustomed  to  it  will  be  overpowered 
by  the  fumes  of  the  cabbage-soup  which  Russians  think 
so  delicious.  A  proverb  says  that  the  three  mightiest 
gods  of  the  Russians  are  Tshin,  Tshai,  and  Shtshee — 
rank,  tea,  and  cabbage-soup. 

"  '  My  son  Wassaja  is  dead/  said  the  woman  in  a  low  tone,  and  the 
pent-up  tears  flowed  afresh  down  her  hollow  cheeks,  '  and  now  my 
end  also  is  near.  The  head  of  my  living  body  has  been  taken  away 


r.U.DAT.  157 

from  me  !  .   .   .   But  is  that  any  reason  for  spoiling  the  soup  ?     It  is 
nicely  salted.'" — Ivan  Tourgueneff,  "  Senilia." 

The  country  is  almost  entirely  forest,  always  pretty, 
but  offering  nothing  to  remark,  except  for  the  thousandth 
time,  that  there  are  scarcely  any  trees  in  Russia  except 
fir,  alder,  and  willow,  and  the  melancholy  birch,  with 
its  shimmering  leaves,  which  accompanies  a  traveler  from 
the  frontier  to  Moscow.  The  wooden  stations  all  have 
brilliant  little  gardens. 

There  are  very  few  towns  in  European  Russia,  as  only 
a  tenth  part  of  the  population  live  in  towns.  Indeed, 
there  are  only  eleven  cities  with  as  many  as  50,000  inhab- 
itants. The  only  town  the  railway  passes  through  is 
Tver.  Before  reaching  this,  we  skirt  the  heights  of 
Valdai,  conical  hillocks,  but  considered  mountainous  in 
this  country.  In  the  eyes  of  the  common  people  they  are 
eyesores.  Russian  folk-lore,  which  has  a  reason  for  every 
thing,  thus  accounts  for  their  existence  : — 

"When  the  Lord  was  about  to  fashion  the  face  of  the  earth,  He 
ordered  the  Devil  to  dive  into  the  watery  depths  and  bring  thence  a 
handful  of  the  soil  he  found  at  the  bottom.  The  Devil  obeyed  ;  but 
when  he  filled  his  hand,  he  filled  his  mouth  also.  The  Lord  took  the 
soil,  sprinkled  it  around,  and  the  Earth  appeared,  all  perfectly  flat. 
The  Devil,  whose  mouth  was  quite  full,  looked  on  for  some  time  in 
silence.  At  last  he  tried  to  speak,  but  was  choked,  and  fled  in  terror. 
After  him  followed  the  thunder  and  the  lightning,  and  so  he  rushed 
over  the  face  of  the  earth,  hills  springing  up  where  he  coughed,  and 
sky-cleaving  mountains  where  he  leaped." — Ralston  {from  Tere- 
schenko),  ' '  Rtissian  Folk  Tales" 

Valdai  is  celebrated  for  the  sweetness  of  its  silver- 
toned  bells,  and  for  its  lake,  and  the  monastery  which  the 
Tsar  Alexis  founded  as  a  half-way  house  for  the  famous 
Nikon  on  his  frequent  journeys  between  Novogorod  and 
Moscow. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  heart  of  the  Russian  empire 
beats  at  Tver,  which  is  a  prosperous  manufacturing  town. 
The  traveler  interested  in  Russian  history  will  linger  there 
(Miiller's  Hotel),  for  there  in  the  Otroch  Monastery 
(Otrotchi  Monastyr),  St.  Philip,  the  Becket  of  Russia,  was 
martyred  under  Ivan  the  Terrible.  There  is  also  an 
interesting  cathedral  of  1682,  in  which  many  of  the 
princes  of  Tver  are  buried,  and  the  feeble  and  treacherous 


158  STUDIES  IX  RUSSIA. 

Grand-Prince  Yaroslaf,  who  died  in  1272  after  an  igno- 
minious submission  to  the  Tartars.  Of  the  princes  of 
Tver,  who  have  graves  here,  the  most  remarkable  was 
Michael,  who  in  1400  touchingly  besought  the  benedic- 
tions of  his  people,  even  of  the  beggars  at  the  church 
porch  just  before  his  death.1 

A  more  interesting  tomb  is  that  of  the  Grand-Prince 
Michael  II.,  whose  succession  was  illegally  disputed  by 
his  cousin  George  Danielovitch  of  Moscow.  Brave  as  a 
hero,  Michael  was  entirely  victorious  over  the  armies  of 
George,  though  the  latter  was  supported  by  the  troops  of 
the  Tartar  Khan,  whose  sister  he  had  married.  George, 
his  wife,  and  the  Tartar  generals  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Michael,  and  as  they  were  kindly  treated,  the  Tartars 
swore  to  be  his  friends  for  the  future.  But,  unfortunately, 
the  Mongol  princess  died  in  the  camp,  and  George  set 
abroad  the  report  that  she  had  been  poisoned  by  the  con- 
queror. The  Prince  of  Tver  was  then  persuaded  to  go 
in  person  to  the  trial  of  his  cause  before  the  tribunal  of 
the  Khan,  where  George  was  permitted  to  seize  him,  and 
to  drag  him,  laden  with  irons,  to  Dediahof. 

"  Des  boi'ars  de  Michel  lui  avaient  propose  de  fuir ;  il  refusa,  ne 
voulant  pas  exposer  son  peuple  a  payer  pour  lui.  Georges  se  donna 
tant  de  mouvement  repandit  tant  d'argent,  qu'enfin  1'ordre  de  mort 
arriva.  Un  des  pages  de  Michel  entra  tout  effraye  dans  la  tente  qui  lui 
servait  de  cachot,  pour  lui  dire  que  Georges  et  Kavgadi  approchaient, 
suivis  d'un  multitude  de  peuple.  '  Je  sais  pourquoi,'  repondit  le 
prince,  et  il  envoya  son  jeune  fils  Constantin  chez  1'une  des  femmes 
du  Khan  qui  devait  le  prendre  sous  sa  sauvegarde.  Ses  deux  ennemis 
mirent  pied  a  terre  pres  de  la  tente,  disperserent  les  boi'ars  de  Tver  et 
envoyerent  leurs  sicaires  assassiner  le  prince.  On  le  terrassa,  on  le 
foula  aux  pieds  ;  comme  pour  Michel  de  Tchernigof,  cene  fut  pas  un 
Mongol  qui  le  poignarda  et  lui  arracha  le  coeur,  mais  un  renegat 
nomme  Romanetz.  Alors  Georges  et  Kavgadi  entrerent  et  contem- 
plerent  le  cadavre  completement  nu  :  '  Eh,  quoi ! '  dit  le  Tatar  au 
prince  de  Moscou,  '  laisserez-vous  outrager  le  corps  de  celui  qui  fut 
votre  oncle  ? '  Un  serviteur  de  Georges  jeta  un  manteau  sur  la  victime. 
Michel  fut  pleure  par  les  Tveriens.  Son  corps,  incorrompu  comme 
celui  d'un  martyr,  fut  plus  tard  depose  a  la  cathedrale  de  Tver  dans  une 
chasse  d'argent.  II  est  devenu  le  bienheureux  etle  patron  de  sa  cite. 
Sur  les  murailles  de  la  cathedrale,  des  peintures  anciennes  et  modernes 
rappellent  son  martyre  et  fletrissent  le  crime  du  Muscovite." — Ram- 
baud,  "Hist,  de  la  Russie." 

George  was  eventually  killed   (1305)  by  the  hand  of 

I  Karamsin,  v. 


MO  SCO  1 1'.  159 

"  Dmitri  of  the  Terrible  Eyes,"  son  of  Michael,  who  paid 
with  his  own  life  for  this  vengeance  for  his  father.  His 
brother  and  successor,  Alexander,  last  sovereign  prince, 
falsely  accused  by  Ivan  Kalika,  of  Moscow,  was  beheaded, 
with  his  son  Feodor,  and  Tver  soon  after  fell  into  com- 
plete subservience  to  Moscow,  to  which  its  great  bell  was 
sent  in  token  of  submission. 

(From  Tver  an  excursion,  by  Volga  steamer,  may  be 
made  to  Uglitch  (125  miles),  an  ancient  town  dating  from 
the  middle  of  the  tenth  century.  In  its  palace,  which 
stands  in  the  principal  square,  and  was  built  in  1462,  the 
Tsaritsa  Marpha  Feodorovna  (Nagoi),  the  seventh  wife 
and  widow  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  was  forced  to  live  in  a 
sort  of  honorable  exile  during  the  reign  of  her  stepson 
Feodor  Ivanovitch  and  his  successor,  and  hence  she  was 
summoned  by  the  false  Demetrius,  and  compelled  to 
acknowledge  him  as  the  son  Dmitri  whom  she  had  seen 
cruelly  murdered  in  this  same  old  palace  of  Uglitch  by 
order  of  Boris  Godunof.) 

After  leaving  Tver,  the  Moscow  line  passes  through 
Klin,  the  ancestral  residence  of  the  house  of  Romanoff. 
The  night  is  spent  in  repose,  not  sleep.  The  constant 
stoppages  interrupt  it,  and  the  cries  of  "  Tchai,  tchai  !  " 
(tea,  tea)  (boiling  hot  in  glasses)  from  the  platforms.  In 
the  morning  you  drink  some  of  this,  with  slices  of  lemon 
in  it,  and  prepare  to  enter  Moscow — "  Our  holy  Mother 
Moscow,"  as  the  peasants  call  it,  even  apostrophizing  the 
road  which  leads  to  it  as  "  our  dear  mother  road  which 
leads  to  Moscow."  * 

There  is  no  beauty  in  the  approach  to  Moscow,  "  the 
white-walled,"  \hematouchka,  long  the  center  and  embodi- 
ment of  the  ancient  Russian  character.  The  huge  rough 
station  with  the  rugged  dusty  plain  by  way  of  a  square,  in 
front  of  it,  are  only  characteristic  of  the  whole  place, 
which  is  twenty-four  miles  round  and  nine  miles  across, 
which  possesses  nine  cathedrals,  484  churches,  and  twenty- 
two  convents  ;  and  yet  which  has  never  arrived  at  being 
a  town,  and  has  always  remained  a  gigantic  and  ill-con- 
ditioned village. 

The  different  quarters  of  Moscow  radiate  in  circles 
round  the  Kremlin,  and  it  is  a  long  drive  through  them 

i  Haxthausen,  iii.  151. 


1 60  STUDIE  S  A  V  R  US  SI  A . 

from  the  station  in  an  omnibus.  First,  we  have  the  vast 
and  shabby  Sloboda  or  suburb,  then  the  Semlainogorod,  so 
called  from  the  circular  earthen  rampart  which  encom- 
passes it.  Next  comes  the  Bielgorod^  or  White  Town,  so 
called  from  its  white  wall,  within  which  the  Tartars  made 
the  Russian  inhabitants  reside,  when  they  turned  them 
out  of  the  inner  city.  Lastly,  we  reach  the  Khitaigorod, 
or  Tartar  Town,  beyond  which  is  the  Kremlin.  As  we 
jolt  over  the  horrible  pavement,  through  seas  of  mud  or 
clouds  of  dust,  we  see  a  good  specimen  of  the  jumble  y? 
which  makes  Moscow — wretched  hovels  next  door  to 
stately  dwellings,  houses  of  rough  timber,  brick  or 
plaster ;  innumerable  churches,  which '  have  all  the 
appearance  of  mosques,  with  domes  of  copper  or  tin, 
gilded  or  painted  green — the  whole  forming  a  conglom- 
eration, than  which  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  any  thing 
more  irregular  or  uncommon,  more  extraordinary  or  con- 
trasted ;  some  parts  having  the  aspects  of  a  sequestered 
desert,  others  of  a  populous  town  ;  some  of  a  contempt- 
ible village,  others  of  a  great  capital.1 

But  however  mean  and  uncivilized  Moscow  may  at 
first  appear  to  the  eyes  of  the  stranger  who  enters  it,  he 
must  remember  that  in  Russian  eyes  it  is  beautiful,  holy 
and  noble  beyond  description  ;  and  if  he  keeps  his  own 
eyes  open,  he  will  soon  cease  to  find  fault,  and  see  much 
to  admire  in  it.  Those  who  mix  with  the  nation  will 
always  find  that  Slavophils  contrast  the  old  capital  very 
favorably  with  the  modern  St.  Petersburg,2  and  the 
ancient  tsars  with  the  modern  emperors.  The  Russian 
Mouravieff  graciously  considers  Rome  to  be  interesting 
because  it  reminds  him  of  Moscow  ;  "  but  then  it  is 
Moscow  without  the  Kremlin." 3  Certainly  no  place, 
except  Rome  and  Jerusalem,  has  a  hold  upon  so  large  a 
portion  of  Christendom  as  Moscow. 

"  La  vraie  Russie  est  a  Moscou.  La  vieille  et  sainte  capitale  est 
restee  le  cceur  et  1'ame  de  1'empire.  C'est  le  foyer  de  la  vie  Rationale, 
c'est  la  'mere,'  comme  le  Russe  1'appelle,  et  quand  son  regard 
tlecouvre  les  coupoles  d'or  du  Kremlin,  il  se  signe,  s'agenouille  et  prie. " 
Victor  Tissot. 

1  See  Coxe's  Travels. 

2  Since  the  creation  of  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow  has  always  evinced  a  more  inde- 
pendent spirit  than  the  rest  of  Russia.     Catherine  II.  used  to  call  it  her  "  haughty 
little  republic."  3  Questions  Religieuses,  p.  270. 


.     THE  KHITAIGOROD.  161 

A  wall  and  gate  of  Tartar  architecture  guard  the 
Khitaigorod,  which  Voltaire,  in  his  "  Life  of  Peter  the 
Great,"  writes  of  as  "  la  partie  appelee  ville  chinoise, 
ou  les  raretes  de  la  Chine  s'etalaient."  This  division  of 
the  town,  however,  bore  its  name  long  before  there  was 
any  intercourse  between  Russia  and  China  ;  the  word 
Cathay  or  Khitai,1  which  probably  means  the  Middle 
Town  (between  the  Kremlin  and  Bielgorod),  having  been 
introduced  by  the  Tartars  when  they  turned  out  the 
Russian  inhabitants,  and  made  them  build  outside  in  the 
Bielgorod.  The  impression  that  this  was  the  "  Chinese 
Town  "  must  partly  have  arisen  from  the  appearance  of 
the  surrounding  towers,  huge  at  the  base,  diminishing 
with  each  story  like  those  in  China,  and  crowned  by 
octagonal  or  four-sided  spires.  The  towers,  however, 
were  really  erected  by  an  Italian  architect,  under  the 
regency  of  the  Grand-Princess  Helena,  mother  of  Ivan 
the  Terrible. 

Beside  the  strange  gate  of  the  Khitaigorod  stands  a 
church  with  the  quaintest  pineapple-tower  imaginable. 
Under  its  shadow  we  enter  a  street  which  contrasts 
strangely  with  the  deserted  thoroughfares  outside  the 
walls  of  the  quarter,  and  into  which  all  the  traffic  of 
Moscow  seems  to  be  compressed.  The  center  is  filled 
with  droskies  with  vociferating  drivers,  and  the  pavement 
crowded  with  foot-passengers,  whilst  between  the  two 
stand  the  itinerant  vendors,  who  deafen  you  with  their 
shouts,  especially  fruit-sellers  with  piles  of  pears  and  little 
purple  and  green  grapes,  fresh  from  the  Crimea,  and  of 
marvelous  cheapness. 

In  a  deafening  hubbub  you  are  landed  at  the  Slavonski 
Bazar,  the  huge  hotel  to  which  most  travelers  resort  who 
wish  to  study  Russian  life.  Groups  of  servants  in  short 
black  blouses  with  belts,  jack-boots,  and  round  caps 
encircled  by  peacock's  feathers,  are  always  standing  round 
the  door.  The  refreshment-room  is  enormous,  of  colossal 
height,  with  a  great  buffet  at  one  end,  whither  the  Russians 
resort  before  dinner  for  the  customary  zakuska  of  pickles, 
sardines,  vodki,  etc.  In  the  center  of  the  hall  are  a  fount- 

i  There  is  another  town  in  the  Ukraine  called  Khitaigorod,  and  another'of  the 
same  name  in  Podolia,  both  provinces  unknown  to  the  Chinese,  and  overrun  with 
Tartars. 


1 62  STUDIES  IN  R USSL 1. 

ain  and  tank  full  of  fish.  You  sit  down  at  one  of  the 
little  tables  by  the  tank,  and  indicate  the  fish  which  you 
wish  to  eat,  and  it  will  forthwith  be  caught  and  prepared 
for  you.  Sterlet  and  sturgeon,  cooked  in  different  ways, 
are  the  chief  delicacies  of  a  Moscow  dinner.  The  hotel 
has  a  bill  of  fare — generally  very  nasty  fare — for  the  day. 
Almost  all  the  meats  are  stewed,  almost  all  the  vegetables 
are  nearly  uncooked  ;  a  strong  rancid  smell  of  cabbage 
pervades  every  thing.  Strangers  will  probably  find  it  best, 
Russian  fashion,  to  pay  for  every  meal  as  soon  as  they 
have  consumed  it,  with  the  addition  of  a  few  kopecks  for 
the  waiter,  for  the  confusion  is  indescribable.  The  bills 
for  your  rooms,  lights,  attendance,  etc.,  are  brought  to 
you  daily ;  if  they  are  not  paid  at  once,  they  should  be 
carefully  preserved  till  you  leave  the  hotel,  as  a  very 
necessary  check  upon  the  charges  at  the  end  of  your 
stay. 

All  the  principal  hotels  in  Moscow  are  now  very  clean,1 
and  greatly  improved  since  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
when  a  traveler  wrote  : — 

"  They  demand  three  roubles  a  day  for  a  single  room  or  kennel,  in 
which  an  Englishman  would  blush  to  keep  his  dogs.  The  dirt  on  the 
floor  may  be  removed  only  with  an  iron  hoe,  or  a  shovel.  These  places 
are  entirely  destitute  of  beds.  They  consist  of  bare  walls,  with  two  or 
three  old  stuffed  chairs,  ragged,  rickety,  and  full  of  vermin.  The  walls 
themselves  are  still  more  disgusting,  as  the  Russians  load  them  with 
the  most  abominable  filth." — Clarke  s  "  Travels" 

Almost  every  one  whom  strangers  are  likely  to  fall  in 
with  at  Moscow  is  one  that  the  English  mind  will  con- 
sider more  or  less  of  a  thief.  The  driver  of  your  droski, 
who  is  so  civil  in  saluting  every  one  he  meets,  and  so 
devout  in  bowing  before  every  icon  or  chapel,  will  usually 
contrive  to  steal  something,  if  it  be  only  of  the  value  of  a 
piece  of  string,  that  he  may  not  return  home  quite  empty- 
handed.  In  this  respect  matters  are  not  much  improved 
since  the  traveler  Clarke  was  in  Moscow.  His  companion 
lost  his  hat.  The  servants  said  that  it  had  been  stolen 
by  a  young  nobleman,  but  their  masters  would  not  believe 
it.  Some  days  afterward,  as  Clarke  was  riding  to  the 
New  Jerusalem,  he  was  joined  by  a  party  of  the  socicti  de 
noblesse  on  horseback.  The  hat  of  one  of  them  was  blown 

I  Hotel  Billo  and  Hotel  Dusaux  are  probably  the  best. 


THE  FO  UNDA  TION  OF  MO  SCO  W.  163 

off,  and  when  Clarke  succeeded  in  picking  it  up,  he  saw  the 
name  of  his  companion  and  the  address  of  the  hatter  on 
the  inside.  There  is  a  Russian  proverb  which  says,  "  Our 
Saviour  would  rob  also  if  His  hands  were  not  pierced." 

In  ancient  times  the  plains  of  the  south  were  far  more 
open  than  the  forests  of  the  north  to  the  manifold  attacks 
of  Avares,  Khazars,  Magyars,  Petcheneques,  Koumanes, 
Turks,  and  Mongols  ;  thus  the  Russians  were  perpetually 
driven  north,  the  seat  of  government  moving  with  them. 
Moscow  is  said  to  have  been  originally  founded  by  Oleg, 
brother-in-law  of  Rurik,  in  882,  but  it  was  refounded  and 
entirely  rebuilt  by  George  Vladimirovitz,  who  married  his 
son  Andrei  to  its  heiress  Vlita,  daughter  of  Stephen  Ivano- 
vitz  Kutchko,  in  1155.  The  name  Moscow  first  appears 
in  chronicles  bearing  the  date  of  H47.1  Under  the  suc- 
cessors of  Vladimirovitz  the  city  fell  into  decay,  and  it 
was  again  refounded  by  Daniel,  son  of  Alexander  Nevskoi. 
The  early  princes  of  Moscow  were  contented  to  take  the 
humble  title  of  servants  of  the  Tartar  Khans,  and  thus, 
and  thus  alone,  rose  to  become  powerful  monarchs.3 

The  original  Kremlin  was  built  by  Daniel,  who  received 
the  title  of  Duke  of  Moscow.  Becoming  attached  to  the 
place,  he  continued  to  reside  there  after  he  succeeded  his 
brother  Andrew  Alexandrovitch  as  Grand-Duke  of  Vlad- 
imir. But  Moscow  did  not  become  recognized  as  the 
capital  of  Muscovy  (instead  of  Vladimir)  till  the  reign  of 
Ivan  Kalita,3  son  of  Daniel  (Ivan  I.,  1328-1340),  who 
induced  the  metropolitan  Theognostes  to  move  to  Mos- 
cow from  Vladimir,  whither  he  had  been  brought  from 
Kieff.  Ivan  greatly  enlarged  the  town,  and  in  1367  his 
son  Dmitri  Ivanovitch  surrounded  the  Kremlin  with  a 
brick  wall.  This,  however,  was  insufficient  to  protect  it 
from  the  Golden  Horde,  under  Tamerlane,  who  captured 
the  town  in  1382,  after  which,  through  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries,  Moscow  remained  under  the  rule  of 
the  Tartars  ;  who  were  only  finally  expelled  by  Ivan  Vas- 
silivitch,  commonly  known  as  Ivan  III.,  or  the  Great,  to 
whom  the  city  owes  its  chief  splendor.4 

i  Rambaud,  Hist,  de  la  Russie.  2  See  Karamsin. 

3  From  kalita,  the  bag  full  of  money  which  he  always  carried    for  his  alms  to 
the  poor. 

4  Some  say  that  the  name  of  the  Khitaigorod    comes  from   a  nickname   of  the 
prince. 


164  STUDIES  IN  jRUSSIA. 

In  spite  of  Tartar  ravages,  in  spite  of  the  great  fire 
under  the  French  occupation  of  1812,  "  Nasha  drevnaya 
stolitza," — "our  old  capital,"  as  the  natives  affectionately 
call  it — has  been  changed  marvelously  little  by  the  lapse 
of  years.  The  Baron  d'Heberstein,  ambassador  from  the 
Emperor  Maximilian  to  the  Grand- Duke  Vassili,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  has  left  a  description 
of  the  town,  and  especially  a  description  of  the  Kremlin, 
which  would  almost  stand  for  them  as  they  are  now. 

The  impress  of  its  long  Tartar  occupation  still  remains 
upon  Moscow,  on  its  buildings,  on  its  customs,  on  the 
barbaric  splendor  of  its  ceremonial.  Long  after  the 
Eastern  rule  had  ceased,  Eastern  customs  prevailed  at 
its  court.  A  picture  at  the  entrance  of  the  great  hall  of 
the  Kremlin,  representing  Joshua  taking  off  his  shoes, 
commemorated  that  practice  which  was  long  observed  in 
the  presence  of  the  Tsars.  The  Terem  and  its  customs 
continued  to  recall  the  harems  of  the  East.  The  arrange- 
ments are  still  to  be  seen  which  permitted  the  Tsaritsa  to 
hear  mass  during  the  forty  days  after  her  confinement  in 
which  she  was  not  -permitted  to  enter  a  church.  The 
very  name  of  "  Christianin,"  as  given  to  a  Russian  peas- 
ant, is  a  relic  of  the  Tartar  occupation,  when  it  was  a  dis- 
tinctive feature.  The  Tartars  still  always  speak  of  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  as  "the  White  Khan." 

Truly  Asiatic  also  are  still  the  long,  narrow  passages  of 
the  Great  Bazar — Gostinnoi  Dvor — which  opens  on  the 
left  of  the  main  street  of  the  Khitaigorod,  the  Tartar 
"  City  of  Kathay,"  as  we  go  toward  the  Kremlin. 
Whenever  you  are  too  hot  elsewhere,  you  may  plunge 
into  its  cool  inviting  shadows,  and  you  are  sure  to  find 
amusement  there.  One  arcade  is  full  of  icons  ancient 
and  modern  ;  another  has  gold  and  silver  stuffs  and  bro- 
cades ;  another  has  bird  shops,  where  the  song  of  night- 
ingales resounds  through  the  night,  and  they  have  a  brisk 
sale,  for  the  birds  are  great  favorites,  and  sing  as  well  in 
Moscow  houses  as  in  the  woods.  Some  of  the  fifty-five 
open  galleries  are  broad  and  almost  silent ;  others,  nar- 
row and  crowded,  are  busy  as  a  beehive.  In  the  latter, 
touters  are  always  lying  in  wait,  who  will  try  to  lure  you, 
almost  to  drag  you,  into  the  different  stalls.  Here  a  pur- 
chase is  very  laborious.  The  customer  must  begin  by 


ST.  BASIL  THE  BEATIFIED.  165 

offering  not  more  than  half  what  is  demanded.  The  price 
comes  down,  but  very  slowly.  At  last  the  purchaser 
grows  wearied,  the  article  is  put  back  upon  the  shelf,  and 
he  goes  away.  Very  soon  he  is  pursued  by  the  tout,  with 
a  smiling  "  You  shall  have  it  !  "  And  the  purchaser  may 
be  sure  he  has  made  nothing  by  his  bargain.  Peter  the 
Great  said  that  it  needed  three  Jews  to  deceive  one  Rus- 
sian ;  and  to  the  Jews  who  asked  leave  to  live  in  his  Em- 
pire, he  answered,  "  Your  position  in  Russia  would  be  too 
miserable  ;  you  have  the  reputation  of  cheating  all  the 
world,  but  my  Russians  would  be  too  much  for  you." 

"  II  est  vray  que  les  Moscovites  ne  manquent  point  d'esprit  ;  mais 
ils  1'employent  si  mal,  qu'il  n'y  a  pas  une  de  leurs  actions,  qui  ait 
pour  le  but  la  vertu,  et  la  gloire,  qui  en  est  inseparable.  .  .  .  Leur 
Industrie  et  la  subtilite  de  leur  esprit  paroist  principalement  en  leur 
traffic,  ou  il  n'y  a  point  de  finesse,  ny  de  tromperie  clont  ils  ne  se  servent, 
pour  fourber  les  autres,  plustost  que  pour  se  defendre  de  1'estre." — 
"  Voyage  d'Olearius, "  i.  145. 

"  Et  d'autant  que  la  tromperie  ne  s'exerce  point  sans  faussete,  sans 
menteries  et  sans  defiances,  qui  en  sont  inseparables,  il  S£avent  mer- 
veilleusement  bien  s'ayder  de  ces  belles  qualites,  aussi  bien  que  de  la 
calomnie." — Ibid.  p.  146. 

Now  we  reach  the  Krasnoi  Ploshtshad,  the  Red  Square, 
a  rude  rambling  space  which  is  girded  on  one  side  by  the 
walls  of  the  Kremlin.  On  this  side  the  square  is  planted 
with  miserable  trees  which  have  just  enough  life  to 
prevent  their  dying,  laden  with  dust  in  summer,  buried  in 
snow  in  winter,  and  lopped,  cropped,  and  mutilated  all 
the  year  round.  A  group  of  sculpture  by  the  Russian 
artist  Martop  represents  Minin,  the  cattle-dealer  of  Nijni, 
urging  the  patriot  prince  Pojarskoi  to  free  his  country, 
then  invaded  by  the  Poles,  and  giving  up  his  wealth  for 
this  heroic  enterprise.1 

At  the  end  of  the  square  the  colored  nightmare  known 
as  the  church  of  the  Protection  of  the  Virgin,  St.  Basil 
the  Beatified  (Vassili  Blagennoi)2  the  strangest  of  all 
Russian  churches,  displays  its  "  incoherences  of  architec- 

1  Minin  was  buried  at  Nijni,  amongst   the  tombs  of  its  ancient  dukes,  but  tombs 
and  church  have  been  moved  from  their  ancient  site.     On  the  subject  of  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Poles  by  Minin  and  Pojarskoi,  see  the  novel  of  Zagoskin,  called  Youri 
Miloslavski, 

2  The  first  name  had  its  origin  in  the  vision  of  Andrew   Salos  at  Constantinople 
in  the  time  of  Leo  the  Great,  when  he   saw  the  Virgin  in  the  clouds.     The  Greeks 
call  the  festival  in  honor  of  this    "the   Protection   of   the   Mother  of  God." — See 
"  Travels  of  Maca  rius"  iii.  315. 


i66 


STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 


ture,"  as  Laveau  graphically  calls  them.  This  church  was 
founded  by  Ivan  the  Terrible  (1534-1584)  who  had  sent 
an  embassy  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  German  artists, 
of  whom  he  secured  not  less  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  for 
his  service.  The  Germans,  however,  must  have  worked 
from  Tartar  designs,  and  have  left  a  purely  Tartar  build- 
ing. It  is  a  central  octagon,  surrounded  by  eight  smaller 
ones,  raised  on  a  platform,  and  with  a  crypt  beneath. 
The  interior  is  a  labyrinth  of  chapels  with  immensely 
thick  walls,  painted  in  arabesque.  Napoleon  ordered 


ST.    BASIL  THE   BEATIFIED. 


"  that  mosque  "  to   be  destroyed,   but  his   orders  were 
fortunately  forgotten. 

"  Figurez-vous  une  agglomeration  de  petites  tourelles  ine'gales, 
composant  ensemble  un  buisson,  un  bouquet  de  fleurs  ;  figurez-vous 
plutot  un  espece  de  fruit  irregulier,  tout  herisse  d'excroissances,  un 
melon  cantaloup,  a  cotes  brode'es,  ou  mieux  encore  une  cristallisation 
de  mille  couleurs,  dont  le  poli  metallique  a  des  reflets  que  brillent  de 
loin  aux  rayons  du  soleil  comme  le  verre  de  Boheme  ou  de  Venise, 
comme  la  faience  de  Delft  la  plus  bariolee,  comme  1'email  de  la  Chine 
le  mieux  verni  ;  ce  sont  des  e'cailles  des  poissons  dores,  des  peaux  de 
serpents  etendues  sur  des  tas  de  pierres  informes,  des  tetes  de  dragons, 


ST.  BASIL  THE  BEATIFIED.  167 

des  armures  de  le'zards  a  teintes  changeantes,  des  ornements  d'autel, 
des  habits  de  pretres  ;  et  le  tout  est  surmonte  de  fleches  dont  la  peint- 
ure  ressemble  a  des  etoffes  de  soie  mordoree  :  dans  les  etroits  inter- 
valles  de  ces  campaniles,  ornes  comme  on  parerait  des  personnes,  vous 
voyez  reluire  des  toils  peints  en  couleur  gorge  de  pigeon,  en  rose,  en 
azur,  et  toujours  bien  vernis  ;  le  scintillement  de  ces  tapisseries  eblouit 
1'oeil  et  fascine  1'imagination.  Certes,  le  pays  ou  un  pareil  monument 
s'appelle  un  lieu  de  priere,  n'est  pas  1' Europe  ;  c'est  1'Inde,  la  Perse, 
la  Chine." — M.  de  Custtne. 

' '  Some  of  the  stones  of  the  cupolas  are  cut  on  the  sides,  others  not  ; 
some  are  three-sided,  some  four-sided  ;  the  sides  are  sometimes  smooth  ; 
some  are  ribbed,  or  fluted  ;  some  of  the  flutes  are  perpendicular,  and 
some  wind  in  spiral  ribs  round  the  cupola.  To  render  the  kaleidoscope 
appearance  yet  more  perfect,  every  rib  and  every  side  is  painted  of  a 
different  color.  Those  neither  cut  in  sides  nor  ribbed  are  scaled  with 
little  smooth,  glazed  and  painted  bricks  ;  and  when  these  scales  are 
closely  examined,  they  even  are  seen  to  differ  from  one  another  ;  some 
are  oval,  others  cut  like  leaves.  The  greater  part  of  the  cupola- 
crowned  towers  have  a  round  body,  but  not  all ;  there  are  six-sided 
and  eight-sided  towers.  In  short,  when  from  one  of  the  upper  galler- 
ies we  look  down  on  all  the  jagged  and  pointed  confusion,  we  are 
inclined  to  believe  we  are  gazing  on  a  field  of  giant  thistles,  some 
half  and  some  fully  blown,  that  have  sprung  from  antediluvian  seed, 
and  been  changed  to  stone  by  the  stroke  of  an  enchanter." — Kohl. 

Ivan  the  Terrible  is  said  to  have  watched  the  creation 
of  this  extraordinary  building,  seated  under  the  strange 
pagoda-like  canopy  which  is  still  to  be  seen  upon  the 
Kremlin  wall.  The  church  commemorated  the  taking  of 
Kazan,  which  is  to  the  Russians  what  the  taking  of  Gra- 
nada is  to  the  Spaniards. 

"  This  church,  half  Oriental,  half  Gothic,  is  a  glorious  monument 
of  victory,  and  a  sort  of  image  of  the  conquered  city  of  Kazan  which 
had  come  under  the  shadow  of  the  antique  sanctuary  of  Moscow." — 
Mouravieff,  ch.  v. 

The  idiot  "  St.  Basil  of  Moscow,  who  had  been  buried 
in  an  earlier  wooden  church  on  the  site  in  1552,  was 
removed  to  the  place  of  honor  in  the  midst  of  the  intri- 
cate labyrinth  of  passages  and  chapels  which  make  up 
the  interior,  where  he  reposes,  with  his  iron  chain  and 
collar  above  his  grave  ;  and  another  idiot,  Ivan,  called 
the  Big  Cap,  from  the  iron  helmet  which  he  wore  as 
penance,  was  laid  here  by  Feodor,  son  of  Ivan  the  Ter- 
rible, in  1589.  Both  the  holy  idiots  were  probably  of 
the  type  described  by  Dr.  Giles  Fletcher  in  1588  : — 


1 68  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

"  There  are  certain  eremites  who  used  to  go  stark  naked,  save  a 
clout  about  their  middle,  with  their  hair  hanging  wildly  about  their 
shoulders,  and  many  of  them  with  an  iron  collar  or  chain  about  their 
necks  and  middles  even  in  the  very  extremity  of  winter.  These  they 
take  as  prophets  and  men  of  great  holiness,  giving  them  a  liberty  to 
speak  what  they  list  without  any  controlment,  though  it  be  of  the  very 
highest  himself.1  So  that  if  he  reprove  any  openly,  in  what  sort 
soever,  they  answer  nothing,  but  that  it  is  Po  Grecum  'for  their 
sins.'  And  if  any  of  them  take  some  piece  of  sale  ware  from  any 
man's  shop  as  he  passeth  by,  to  give  where  he  list,  he  thinketh  himself 
much  beloved  of  God,  and  much  beholden  to  the  holy  man  for  taking  it 
in  that  sort.  The  people  liketh  very  well  of  them,  because  they  are 
as  pasquils  (pasquins)  to  note  their  great  men's  faults,  that  no  man  else 
dare  speak  of.  Yet  it  falleth  out  sometimes  that  for  this  rude  liberty 
which  they  take  upon  them,  after  a  counterfeit  manner  by  imitation  of 
prophets,  they  are  made  away  in  secret  ;  as  was  one  or  two  of  them 
in  the  late  Emperor's  time  for  being  over  bold  in  speaking  against  the 
government.  ...  Of  this  kind  there  are  not  many,  because  it  is  a 
very  hard  and  cold  profession  to  go  naked  in  Russia,  especially  in 
winter. " 

The  idiot  Basil  himself  is  mentioned  by  Fletcher. 

"  One  there  was  whom  they  called  Basil,  that  would  take  upon  him 
to  reprove  the  old  Emperor  for  all  his  cruelty  and  oppression  done 
toward  the  people.  His  body  they  have  translated  into  a  sumptuous 
church  near  the  Emperor's  house  in  Moscow,  and  have  canonized  him 
for  a  saint." 

Many  cures  are  declared  by  the  Russian  Church  to 
have  been  performed  at  the  grave  of  Basil.  It  was  to 
this  grave,  however,  that  refusing  to  listen  to  the  doc- 
tors, the  Tsar  Boris  Godunof  carried  his  dying  son  in  the 
bitter  winter  of  1588,  and  the  child  died.* 

In  front  of  St.  Basil  is  the  LobnoJ  Mihto*  a  circular 
stone  tribune,  whence  the  ancient  Tsars  proclaimed  their 
edicts.  Here,  during  his  temporary  reformation,  in  1547, 
Ivan  the  Terrible  bewailed  his  misrule  and  promised 
amendment,  and  from  hence  the  patriarch  Nikon  gave 
his  blessing  to  Alexis.  It  was  here,  at  Easter,  after  the 
reading  of  the  Gospel,  the  patriarch  used  to  mount  the 
ass  which  the  Tsar  himself  led  by  the  bridle  to  the 
cathedral  of  the  Rest  of  the  Virgin. 

1  Peter  the  Great,  who  took  a  common-sense  view  of  these  "  eremites,''  ordained 
that,  at  their  consecration,  all  Russian  bishops  should  swear  to  give  up  to  the  civil 
authorities  all  "  impostors  who  go  about  as  possessed,  with  their  bare  feet  and  in 
their  shirts,  that  they  may  drive  out  the  evil  spirits  from  them  with  the  knout." 

2  See  Karamsin,  x. 

3  Public  place,  literally  Place  of  the  Skull,  Golgotha,  from  the  executions. 


EXECUTIONS  UNDER  IVAN  IV.  169 

This  was  the  famous  "  place  of  execution,"  which  has 
witnessed  so  many  terrible  scenes.  Here,  where  he  had 
made  (1547)  his  touching  public  confession  of  the  sins  of 
his  youth,  after  his  conversion  by  the  hermit  Sylvester, 
Ivan  the  Terrible,  after  the  death  of  his  first  wife  Anas- 
tasia  (1565),  began  that  series  of  executions  which  have 
rendered  his  name  so  infamous. 

"  The  first  victim  was  the  celebrated  voi'evode,  Prince  Alexander 
Gorbati-Schoui'ski,  descendant  of  St.  Vladimir,  of  Vsevolod  the  Great, 
and  of  the  ancient  princes  of  Souzdal.  That  profound  thinker  and 
able  soldier,  animated  alike  in  the  cause  of  religion  and  his  country, 
who  had  powerfully  contributed  to  the  subjugation  of  the  kingdom  of 
Kazan,  was  condemned  to  death,  with  his  son  Peter,  a  young  man  of 
seventeen.  They  both  approached  the  place  of  execution  with  calm 
dignity,  without  fear,  and  holding  each  other  by  the  hand.  In  order 
not  to  witness  his  father's  death,  Peter  was  the  first  to  present  his  head 
to  the  sword  ;  but  his  father  made  him  stand  aside,  saying  with  emo- 
tion, 'No,  my  son;  do  not  let  me  see  you  die!'  The  young  man 
gave  up  his  place  to  him  and  the  head  of  the  Prince  was  immediately 
severed  from  his  body  ;  his  son  took  it  in  his  hands,  covered  it  with 
kisses,  and  then,  with  perfect  serenity,  gave  himself  up  to  the  hands 
of  the  executioner.  The  brother-in-law  of  Gorbati,  Prince  Khovrin, 
of  Greek  origin,  the  chief  officer  Golovin,  the  Prince  Soukhoi-Kachin, 
the  chief  cup-bearer,  and  Prince  Gorenski,  were  beheaded  the  same 
day.  The  Prince  Scheviref  was  impaled  ;  it  is  said  that  this  unfor- 
tunate man  lived  through  a  whole  day  of  horrible  suffering,  but  that, 
sustained  by  religion,  he  continued  to  sing  the  praises  of  Jesus,  etc." 

But  it  was  not  until  five  years  later  (1570)  that  the 
cruelties  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  seemed  to  attain  their 
climax. 

"On  July  25  eighteen  gibbets  were  erected  in  the  great  market 
place  of  the  Khita'igorod  ;  the  instruments  of  torture  were  displayed, 
and  an  immense  bonfire  was  lighted,  above  which  a  huge  caldron 
filled  with  water  was  suspended.  On  seeing  these  terrific  preparations 
the  people  of  Moscow  were  convinced  that  their  last  hour  was  come, 
and  that  the  Tsar  was  determined  at  once  to  make  an  end  of  his  capi- 
tal and  its  inhabitants.  Beside  themselves  with  terror,  they  fled  and 
hid  themselves  wherever  they  could,  abandoning  in  their  open  shops 
both  their  merchandise  and  their  money.  Soon  the  place  was  de- 
serted, and  nothing  was  seen  but  a  troop  of  Opritchniks1  ranged  round 
the  gibbets  and  the  burning  pile,  in  profound  silence.  Suddenly  the 
air  resounded  with  the  roll  of  drums  ;  the  Tsar  appeared  on  horse- 
back with  his  eldest  son,  the  object  of  his  affection.  He  was  accom- 
panied by  the  boyars,  the  princes,  and  by  his  guard,  marching  in 
order,  followed  by  the  condemned,  to  the  number  of  more  than 

i  Ivan's  guard  of  1,000  satellites,  gentlemen  and  Boyars  of  Moscow.  Literally 
translated,  the  word  appropriately  means  "  familiars,"  as  of  a  fiend. 


170  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

three  hundred,  like  specters  in  appearance,  wounded,  torn,  bleeding, 
scarce  able  to  drag  themselves  along.  Arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  gib- 
bets, Ivan  looked  around  him  ;  and  being  astonished  to  see  no  specta- 
tors he  ordered  his  guard  to  assemble  the  inhabitants  and  bring  them  to 
the  square.  Impatient  at  their  delay,  he  ran  himself  to  summon  them, 
calling  the  Muscovites  to  witness  the  spectacle  he  had  prepared  for 
them,  and  promising  them  pardon  and  safety.  The  citizens  did  not 
dare  to  disobey  ;  they  came  out  of  the  cellars,  of  the  hiding-places 
where  they  were  concealed,  and,  trembling  with  fright,  hastened  to 
the  place  of  execution,  which  they  filled  in  a  few  moments  ;  even  the 
walls  and  roofs  were  covered  with  spectators.  Then,  with  a  loud  voice, 
the  Tsar  said  to  them  :  '  People  of  Moscow,  you  are  going  to  witness 
tortures  and  executions  ;  but  I  am  punishing  traitors.  Answer  me  ! 
does  my  judgment  seem  to  you  just  ? '  At  these  words  loud  acclam- 
ations were  raised  on  all  sides  :  '  Long  live  the  Tsar,  our  lord  and 
master,  and  may  his  enemies  perish  ! '  Ivan  then  ordered  eighty  per- 
sons to  be  drawn  out  of  the  crowd,  to  whom  as  the  least  guilty  he 
granted  their  lives.  The  secretary  of  the  privy  council,  unfolding  a 
roll  of  parchment,  then  published  the  names  of  the  victims.  After 
this  he  made  Viskovaty  advance,  and  read  his  condemnation  aloud.  .  . 
The  executioners  threw  themselves  upon  him,  gagged  him,  hung  him 
up  by  his  feet,  and  hacked  him  to  pieces.  Maluta  Skouratof,  descend- 
ing from  his  horse,  was  the  first  to  cut  an  ear  from  the  sufferer. 

"  The  second  victim  was  the  treasurer  Founikof,  the  friend  of 
Viskovaty,  also  accused,  upon  very  slight  foundation,  of  treason.  They 
poured  boiling  and  iced  water  alternately  upon  the  body  of  this  wretched 
man,  who  died  in  terrific  agonies.  The  rest  had  their  throats  cut, 
were  hung  or  hewn  to  bits.  The  Tsar  himself,  on  horseback,  with  a 
tranquil  air,  ran  an  old  man  through  with  his  lance  :  in  the  space  of 
four  hours  more  than  two  hundred  men  were  put  to  death  !  Finally, 
their  horrible  duties  accomplished,  the  murderers,  bathed  in  blood, 
brandishing  their  smoking  swords,  gathered  in  front  of  the  Tsar, 
with  the  cry  of  joy  :  '  Ho'ida  !  hoi'da  ! ' l  lauding  his  justice.  Ivan, 
going  through  the  square,  examined  the  heap  of  corpses  ;  but,  though 
surfeited  of  murders,  he  was  not  yet  surfeited  with  the  despair  of  his 
subjects.  He  desired  to  see  the  unhappy  wives  of  Founikof  and  of 
Viskovaty  ;  he  went  to  their  houses,  laughed  at  their  tears,  and  put 
the  first  to  the  torture,  demanding  her  treasures.  He  wanted  also  to 
put  her  daughter,  aged  fifteen,  to  the  torture,  but, upon  her  cries  of 
despair,  he  changed  his  mind,  and  gave  her  to  his  son,  the  Tsarevitch 
Ivan.  She  was  eventually  shut  up  with  her  mother  and  the  wife  of 
Viskovaty  in  a  convent,  where  they  all  three  died  of  grief. 

"  The  inhabitants  of  Moscow  who  witnessed  this  terrible  day  did 
not  see  either  Prince  Viazeniski  or  Alexis  Basmanof  amongst  the  vic- 
tims. The  first  had  died  under  the  torture  ;  and  as  to  the  end  of  the 
second,  in  spite  of  the  atrocities  we  have  described,  it  may  seem 
incredible,  but  contemporaries  state  that  Ivan  forced  young  Feodor 
Basmanof  to  kill  his  father.  (He  had  also  caused,  at  this  time,  or 
before,  the  Prince  Basil  Prayravsky  to  be  assassinated  by  his  brother 
Nicetas  ! )  However,  this  unnatural  son  did  not  save  his  life  by  a 

i  A  cry  of  the  Tartars,  by  which  they  excite  their  horse, 


EXECUTIONS  UNDER  PETER  /.  171 

parricide  ;  he  was  executed  with  the  rest.     Their  goods  were  confis- 
cated to  the  treasury. 

"  The  tyrant  rested  for  three  days,  for  it  was  absolutely  necessary 
to  bury  the  corpses,  but,  on  the  fourth,  he  brought  out  upon  the  square 
new  victims  whom  he  put  to  death.  Maluta-Skouratof,  chief  of  the 
executioners,  hewed  the  bodies  of  those  who  were  executed  in  pieces 
with  an  ax,  and  the  bleeding  fragments,  deprived  of  burial,  remained 
for  eight  days  exposed  to  the  greediness  of  the  dogs,  who  fought  over 
them.  The  wives  of  the  gentlemen  executed,  to  the  number  of  eighty, 
were  drowned  in  the  river. " — Karamsin,  ix. 

The  Krasnoe  Ploshtshad  witnessed  another  terrible  series 
of  executions  in  the  early  years  of  Peter  the  Great,  after 
the  rebellion  of  the  Streltsi  had  been  excited  by  the  Tsar- 
evna  Sophia,  who  had  been  already  some  years  in  the 
Novo-Devichi  Monastery. 

"  Les  longues  barbes  avaient  etc  I'insjgne  de  la  revoke  ;  elles  tom- 
baient  partout.  Pierre  ordonna  a  tous  les  gentilshommes  d'avoir  a  se 
raser,  et  lui-meme  rasa  de  sa  propre  main  les  grands  seigneurs.  Le 
meme  jour,  la  Place  Rouge  se  couvrit  de  potences  ;  le  patriarche  Adrien 
essaya  vainement  de  conjurer  la  colere  du  tsar,  en  se  presentant  devant 
lui  avec  1'image  miraculeuse  de  la  mere  de  Dieu.  '  Pourquoi  as-tu 
deplace  cette  sainte  icone  ? '  lui  cria  le  tsar.  '  Retire-toi  et  la  reporte  a 
sa  place.  Sache  que  je  n'ai  pas  moins  de  veneration  que  toi-meme 
pour  Dieu  et  sa  mere,  mais  sache  aussi  que  mon  devoir  est  de  proteger 
le  peuple  et  de  punir  les  rebelles. '  Le  30  septembre  (ancien  style)  on  vit 
arriver  a  la  Place  Rouge  un  premier  convoi  de  deux-cent-un  prison- 
niers,  traines  dans  des  charrettes,  des  cierges  allumes  dans  les  mains, 
presque  tous  deja  brises  par  la  torture,  suivis  de  leurs  femmes  et  de  leurs 
enfants,  qui  couraient  derriere  les  voitures  en  leur  chantant  les  com- 
plaintes  des  funerailles.  Us  f urent  pendus  apres  la  lecture  de  leur  sen- 
tence ;  le  tsar  ordonna  a  plusieurs  officiers  d'aider  le  bourreau.  Tean- 
Georges  Korb,  agent  autrichien,  qui  nous  a  laisse,  comme  temoin 
oculaire,  un  recit  authentique  des  executions,  entendit  raconter  que 
4  cinq  tetes  de  rebelles  venaient  deja  d'etre  abattues  a  coups  de  hache 
par  la  plus  noble  main  de  la  Russie.'  Le  terrible  charpentier  de  Saar- 
dam  travailla  et  obligea  ses  bo'iars  a  travailler  a  cette  horrible  besogne. 
Sept  autres  journees  furent  consacrees  aux  supplices  ;  un  millier  de 
victimes  perirent.  Quelques-unes  furent  devouees  a  la  roue  et  a  d'autres 
supplices  raffines.  On  defendit  d'enlever  les  corps  des  executes,  et 
pendant  cinq  mois  Moscou  eut  le  spectacle  de  cadavres  pendus  a 
tous  les  creneaux  du  Kremlin  et  les  autres  remparts  de  la  ville,  ou 
exposes  sur  les  places  ;  pendant  cinq  mois  d'hiver,  des  Streltsi  accroches 
aux  barreaux  de  la  prison  de  Sophie  lui  presenterent  la  supplique  par 
laquelle  ils  1'avaient  exhortee  a  regner.  Deux  de  ses  confidentes 
avaient  etc  enterrees  vives  ;  elle-meme,  ainsi  que  la  femme  de  Pierre, 
Eudoxie  Lapoukhine,  1'epouse  repudiee  pour  son  attachement  obstine 
aux  anciennes  coutumes,  eurent  la  tete  rasee  et  furent  enfermees  dans 
des  monasteres." — Rambaud,  "Hist,  de  la  Russie" 


172 


STUDIES  7,V  KUSSM. 


It  is  said  that  the  relations  of  the  victims  of  Peter  "  the 
Great,"  after  the  rebellion  of  the  Streltsi,  only  obtained 
permission  to  remove  their  heads  from  the  battlements, 
where  they  were  exhibited,  when  the  spaces  were  required 
for  the  heads  of  the  unfortunate  adherents  of  the  Tsar- 
evitch  Alexis. 

Opposite  St.  Basil  rises  the  magnificent  Spaskoi  Vorota, 
the  Gate  of  the  Redeemer,  built  by  the  Milanese  architect, 


THE   GATE  OF  THE   REDEEMER   (INTERIOR). 


Pietro  Solario,  in  1491.  It  is  painted  red  with  green 
spires.  Till  recently  it  was  entered  by  a  long  narrow 
bridge  over  a  fosse,  which  is  now  filled  up.1  Here  is  the 
famous  picture  of  "  the  Redeemer  of  Smolensk  ; "  the 
Palladium  of  the  Russian  Empire.  It  is  calculated  that 
10,880  persons  visit  it  every  twelve  hours.  The  picture 

i  See  "Rebels,  Journal. 


THE  HOLY  GATE.  173 

has  been  famous  for  the  efficiency  with  which  it  has  always 
defended  itself  against  foreign  invaders.  The  Tartars 
thought  its  frame  was  of  gold  and  wanted  to  remove  it, 
but  every  ladder  they  raised  for  the  purpose  broke  in  the 
middle.  The  French  brought  a  cannon  to  batter  it  down, 
but  an  angel  always  wetted  their  powder  ;  and  when, 
driven  to  desperation,  they  made  a  fire  of  coals  over  the 
touch-hole,  it  exploded  the  wrong  way.  The  picture  has 
imparted  its  sanctity  to  the  Porta  Sacra  beneath.  Woe 
be  to  any  man  who  attempts  to  go  through  it  without 
baring  his  head  !  He  is  speedily  reminded  of  his  negli- 
gence by  the  loud  cries  of  "  Shlapa,  shlapa,  batiushka," 
"  The  hat,  the  hat,  little  father."  Formerly  fifty  compul- 
sory prostrations  were  extorted  from  every  one  who  passed 
the  gate  without  uncovering.1 

1 '  I  wished  to  see  if  the  absurd  rule  was  rigorously  enforced,  and, 
feigning  ignorance,  entered  beneath  the  arch  with  my  hat  on.  A  sen- 
tinel challenged  me  ;  but,  without  taking  notice  of  him,  I  walked 
forward.  Next  a  bare-headed  peasant  met  me,  and,  seeing  my  head 
covered,  summoned  the  sentinels  and  people  with  very  loud  expressions 
of  anger  ;  who,  seizing  me  by  the  arms,  very  soon  taught  me  in  what 
manner  to  pass  the  Holy  Gate  for  the  future." — "  Clarke's  Travels" 

The  uncovering  at  the  gate  dates  from  1613,  the  time 
of  the  deliverance  of  Russia  from  the  Poles,  for  the  pic- 
ture of  the  Redeemer  is  that  which  was  carried  before  the 
victorious  army  of  Prince  Pojarskoi,  when  he  went  forth 
against  the  invaders  at  the  bidding  of  the  monk  Diony- 
sius  of  the  Troitsa.  Pojarskoi  made  his  triumphant  entry 
afterward  by  this  gate.  Once  every  Russian  city  had  its 
Porta  Santa. 

The  girdle  of  strange  towers  which  encircles  the  Krem- 
lin dates  from  the  time  of  Ivan  III.  (the  Great)  when 
they  were  begun  by  the  Italian  Antonio  Aleviso  (1485), 
the  fortifications  which  had  been  constructed  under  Dmitri 
Donskoi  having  fallen  into  ruin  to  such  a  degree  that  the 
town  was  at  that  time  almost  without  fortifications. 

"  Persuadez-vous  bien  que  la  citadelle  de  Moscou  n'est  nullement  ce 
qu'on  dit  qu'elle  est.  Ce  n'est  pas  un  palais,  ce  n'est  pas  un  sanctuaire 
national  ou  se  conservent  les  tresors  historiques  de  1'empire  ;  ce  n'est 
pas  le  boulevard  de  la  Russie,  1'asile  revere  ou  dorment  les  saints  pro- 

i  It  is  thought  by  some  that  the  uncovering  and  crossing  at  the  Holy  Gate  was 
suggested  by  some  such  text  as  "  Thou  shalt  call  thy  walls  salvation,  and  thy  gates 
praise"  (Isaiah  Ix.  18). 


1 74  STUDIES  IN  R USSIA. 

tecteurs  de  la  patrie  :  c'est  moins  et  c'est  plus  que  tout  cela  ;  c'est  tout 
simplement  la  prison  des  spectres. 

"  Heritage  des  temps  fabuleux,  ou  le  mensonge  etait  roi  sans  con- 
trole  :  geole,  palais,  sanctuaire,  boulevard  centre  1'etranger,  bastille 
centre  la  nation,  appui  des  tyrans,  cachot  des  peuples :  voili  le 
Kremlin  ! 

"  Espece  d' Acropolis  du  Nord,  de  Pantheon  barbare,  ce  sanctuaire 
national  pourrait  s'appeler  1' Alcazar  des  Slaves." — M.  de  Custine. 

We  now  enter  upon  the  vast  open  space  in  the  interior 
of  the  Kremlin.  Ill-kept,  weed-grown,  dust-laden,  it 
teems  with  glorious  historic  memories.  It  was  here  that 
Dmitri  Donskoi  hoisted  his  black  flag  against  Mamai  the 
Tartar,  after  his  ride  with  his  prophetic  relation  Dmitri 
of  Volhynia,  who,  descending  from  his  horse  and  lying 
upon  the  earth,  had  told  him  how  from  the  depth  of  the 
earth  came  voices  promising  victory,  but  with  great 
weeping  and  wailing  over  the  slaughter  which  would 
take  place.  Here  also  Ivan  the  Great  trod  under  foot 
the  Image  of  the  Khan,  to  which  the  Tsars  had  pre- 
viously done  homage. 

The  view  from  the  terrace  of  the  Kremlin  has  a  remin- 
iscence— faint,  washed  out,  and  colorless,  but  still  a 
palpable  reminiscence — of  the  view  of  Rome  from  the 
Pincio  ;  the  materials  are  the  same  ;  the  low  distant 
Sparrow  Hills  take  the  place  of  the  Janiculan,  the  new 
cathedral  with  its  great  dome  represents  St.  Peter's,  the 
Moskva  answers  to  the  Tiber,  and  the  plain  is  filled  with 
the  same  brown  roofs  and  houses,  broken  ever  and  anon 
by  the  domes  of  the  churches,  here,  however,  sparkling 
from  their  metal  casing,  as  if  they  were  in  polished  armor. 

"  The  new  Rome  which  is  Moscow." — "  Travels  of  Macarius,"  i. 
355- 

"  Voila  Rome  tatare  !  "  was  the  exclamation  of  Madame 
de  Stael,  as  she  looked  upon  this  view,  with  its  marvelous 
conglomeration  of  domes  and  spires — like  melons,  pump- 
kins, pineapples,  pears,  strawberries  ;  ornamented  with 
spirals,  circles,  zigzags  and  spots  ;  hung  with  veils  of 
chains,  crescents,  disks -and  stars.  Pious  individuals 
frequently  bequeath  legacies  toward  the  perpetual 
regilding  or  repainting  of  a  particular  dome  in  Moscow. 

Strangers  will  be  struck,  all  over  Russia,  but  especially 
here,  by  the  way  in  which  the  crosses  on  the  churches 


THE  KREMLIN  OF  MO  SCO  W.  175 

are  represented  as  rising  from  crescents.  The  Tartars, 
who  were  masters  of  Russia  for  two  hundred  years,  had 
changed  the  churches  into  mosques  and  fixed  the  crescent 
upon  them.  When  the  Grand  Duke  Ivan  Vassilivitch 
drove  out  the  Tartars,  and  restored  the  churches,  he  left 
the  crescents,  but  planted  the  cross  upon  them  in  sign  of 
victory,  and  Russia  has  since  continued  the  practice. 

The  second  cross-bar  which  is  almost  universally  seen 
placed  crooked  on  the  lower  part  of  the  cross  is  because 
the  Russians  believe  our  Saviour  to  have  been  deformed 


VIEW   FROM   THE   KREMLIN. 


— to  have  had  one  leg  shorter  than  the  other..  He 
wished  to  drink  to  the  utmost  the  degradation  of 
humanity.  "  He  hath  no  form  or  comeliness.  .  .  .  We 
did  esteem  him  stricken,  smitten  of  God  and  afflicted.  .  . 
It  pleased  the  Lord  to  bruise  him  :  he  hath  put  him  to 
grief." 

Paying  due  respect  to  the  icons,  strangers  may  wander 
about  these  sacred  courts  at  their  will,  but  endless  diffi- 
culties attend  them  if  they  want  to  draw.  Populace  and 
officials  are  alike  suspicious  of  such  a  strange  proceeding, 


1 7 6  STUDIES  IN  K I  rSSL  1 . 

and  even  when  armed  with  orders  of  permission  from  the 
Governor  of  Moscow  and  the  head  of  the  police,  the 
artist  is  sure  to  be  arrested  and  carried  off  twice  a  day  to 
the  police-station.  None  of  the  police  can  read,  and 
every  fresh  man  on  the  beat  thinks  it  necessary  to  take 
him  up.  When  his  order  has  been  examined,  he  is 
treated  civilly  and  released  ;  but  the  waste  of  time  and 
chronic  trial  of  temper  are  most  wearisome. 

The  name  Kremlin  comes  from  a  Tartar  word  mean- 
ing fortress.  Every  Russian  city  formerly  had  a  Kremlin, 
which  answered  to  an  Alcazar  in  Spain,  but  here  it  had  a 
greater  significance.  What  the  Acropolis  is  to  Athens, 
and  the  Capitol  to  Rome,  that  the  Kremlin  is  to  Moscow. 
It  is  a  city  in  itself,  and  not  only  the  center,  but  the 
source  of  the  capital.  Yet  like  every  thing  else  in  Mos- 
cow, it  is  here  a  strange  jumble  of  magnificence  and  ruin. 
The  vast  sandy  space  of  the  interior,  covered  with  rough 
grass  and  weeds,  and  girded  on  one  side  by  the  terrace 
with  the  view,  is  fringed  on  the  other  by  a  succession  of 
buildings  eminently  historic,  yet  so  covered  with  paint, 
stucco  or  whitewash,  as  to  possess  little  that  is  striking 
externally  except  their  golden  domes.  Grouped  around  the 
great  Tower  of  Ivan  Veliki  are  the  three  old  cathedrals, 
that  of  the  Rest  of  the  Virgin,  called  by  Englishmen  the 
Assumption,  in  which  the  Tsars  were  crowned  ;  that  of 
the  Annunciation,  in  which  they  were  baptized  and  mar- 
ried ;  and  that  of  the  St.  Michael,  in  which  they  lie 
buried.  Then,  behind  the  Cathedrals,  rises  the  vast  red 
mass  of  the  palace. 

"  II  y  a  de  tout  an  Kremlin  :  c'est  im  paysage  cle  pierres." — M.  de 
Cits  tine, 

At  the  foot  of  the  great  tower  stands  Tsar  Kolokol,  the 
Emperor  of  Bells,  a  second  recast  of  1733  from  the  mate- 
rial of  a  bell  dating  from  the  reign  of  Boris  Godunof. 
He  thought  he  could  atone  for  the  crimes  through 
which  he  waded  to  the  Russian  throne,  by  giving 
Moscow  a  bell  288,000  Ibs.  in  weight.  But  as  it  seemed 
to  be  the  fashion  to  measure  the  piety  of  sovereigns 
by  the  weight  of  bells,  the  Empress  Anne  had  the  bell 
oif  Godunof  recast,  and  added  nearly  2,000  Ibs.  to  it. 
Peasants  now  visit  the  bell  on  festa  days  as  they  would  a 


CA  THEDRA  L  OF  THE  A  SSUMP  TIO.V.  1 7  7 

church,  as  an  act  of  devotion.  The  story  of  the  bell 
having  been  broken  by  a  fall  is  only  a  fable  repeated 
from  one  writer  to  another.  It  remains  where  it  was 
cast,  and  was  never  hung.  A  fire  in  the  Kremlin  in  1737 
caught  the  temporary  shed  from  which  it  had  not  yet 
been  moved,  and  the  water  thrown  upon  the  burning 
building  caused  the  fracture  of  the  heated  metal. 

The  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption  or  "  Rest  of  the  Virgin' 
— Uspenski  Sobor1 — was  built  1473-79,  and  has  been 
little  altered  since.  Its  architect,  Aristotele  Fioraventi, 
of  Bologna,  had  already  become  known  through  his  serv- 
ices to  Cosimo  de  Medici,  Francis  I.,  Gian  Galeazzo  of 
Milan,  and  Pope  Sixtus  IV.  Tolbusine,  ambassador  of 
Ivan  the  Great,  meeting  him  at  Venice,  had  engaged  him 
for  the  service  of  the  Tsar.2  The  church  has  no  sign 
whatever  of  Italian  architecture,  though  built  by  an 
Italian  architect,  for  he  went  to  Vladimir  to  study  the 
ancient  Cathedral  of  the  Coronations  in  that  city,  and 
strove  to  reproduce  it  as  much  as  possible  in  Moscow. 

The  interior  blazes  with  gold  and  color,  and  is  filled 
with  historic  monuments  of  indescribable  interest.  It  is 
scarcely  larger  than  a  chapel  in  an  English  cathedral,  yet 
so  intensely  full  is  it  that  its  size  is  quite  forgotten  in  the 
importance  of  its  contents.  In  the  nave  of  this  Russian 
Rheims,  all  the  Tsars  from  Ivan  the  Terrible  to  the  present 
day  have  been  crowned. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  the  gorgeous  regildings 
for  the  coronation  of  Alexander  III.  have  done  much  to 
mar  the  effect  and  destroy  the  antiquated  appearance  of 
the  interior.  Nevertheless,  in  this  cathedral,  may  still  be 
seen  the  nearest  likeness  of  that  worship  which  the  envoys 
of  Vladimir  saw  at  Constantinople,  and  which  made  them 
feel  that  "there  in  truth  God  had  His  dwelling  with  men."3 
Here  also,  for  more  than  four  centuries,  the  ancient 
Byzantine  rites  have  been  followed  in  all  their  splendor, 
except  during  the  interval  of  the  Polish  invasion  (1605), 
when  Latin  services  were,  for  a  short  time,  chanted  here, 

i  The  word  in  the  Russian  signifies  "  rest,"  or  "  falling  asleep,"  and  is  a  literal 
translation  of  the  word  always  used  in  the  Greek,  K.araK.oifJ.r]Gig. 

•2  Archbishop  Plato  says  thatAristotle  of  Bologna  understood  how  to  cast  bells 
and  cannon  and  to  coin  money,  as  well  as  the  work  of  an  architect,  but  yet  received 
only  ten  roubles  (about  jl.)  a  month  as  salary. 

3  Mouravieff. 


1 7  8  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

and  the  abhorred  music  of  the  organ  sounded  through  the 
arcades. 

"  On  a  peine  a  croire  que  1'Assomption  soit  de  la  meme  epoque  et 
des  memes  artistes  que  les  lumineuses  eglises  de  la  Renaissance. 
L'architecte  ou  ceux  qui  1'ont  inspire  ont  cherche  a  reproduire  ici  la 
mysterieuse  obscurite  des  vieux  temples  d'Egypte  et  d'Orient.  Cette 
cathedrale  n'a  pas  de  fenetres,  mais  plutot  des  meurtrieres,  d'etroites 
fentes  grillees  qui  ne  laissent  tomber  dans  1'interieur  qu'un  jour  dou- 
teux,  comme  celui  qui  filtre  par  le  soupirail  d'un  cachot.  Cette  pale 
lumiere  vient  effleurer  alors  les  massifs  piliers  couverts  d'un  or  bruni, 
sur  le  sombre  eclat  duquel  se  detachent,  severes  et  graves,  des  figures 
de  saints  et  de  docteurs  ;  elle  accroche  ca  et  la  les  saillies  de  \iconostase 
d'or,  couverte  d'images  miraculeuses,  parsemee  de  diamants  et  de  pier- 
reries.  Toute  la  partie  superieure  du  temple  est  en  quelque  sorte 
enveloppee  d'ombres  comme  les  hypogees  pharaoniques  ;  on  ne  dis- 
tingue que  vaguement  les  peintures  qui  de'corent  la  voute  ;  1'artiste 
evidemment  les  afaites  pour  1'oeil  de  Dieu,  non  pour  celui  de  rhomme  ; 
car  1'oeil  de  I'homme  ne  peut  guere  les  contempler  que  dans 
les  rares  occasions,  comme  au  jour  de  rAssomption  ou  le  jour  de  cou- 
ronnement,  lorsque  1'eglise  s'illumine  tout  entiere  et  se  laisse  penetrer 
jusque  dans  ses  derniers  recoins  par  la  lumiere  des  cierges  innombra- 
bles." — Rambaud,  "  Hist,  de  la  fiussie." 

Like  all  Russian  churches,  the  cathedral  has  three  parts: 
the  first  called  by  the  Greeks  Kpovaog  and  by  the  Russians 
trapeza  ;  secondly,  the  body  ;  thirdly,  the  shrine.  All 
the  walls  are  covered  with  frescoes,  possessing  nothing  of 
beauty  in  detail,  yet  infinitely  beautiful  in  their  general 
effect.  Smaller  figures  are  seen  in  the  spaces  below,  huge 
faces  with  staring  eyes  above.  These  pictures  are  the 
favorite  religious  instructors  of  the  people,  who  may  con- 
stantly be  seen  explaining  them  to  each  other.  The 
earlier  paintings  date  from  the  reign  of  Simeon  the  Proud, 
when  they  were  executed  by  Greek  artists  for  the  Metro- 
politan Theognostos.  The  whole  of  the  western  wall  is 
occupied  by  a  vast  fresco  of  the  Last  Judgment,  in  which 
Paradise,  divided  into  many  compartments,  keeps  before 
the  minds  of  those  who  look  upon  it  a  tenet  which  has 
dropped  out  of  the  existing  religion — "  In  my  Father's 
house  are  many  mansions."  This  picture  is  also  of  historic 
value  as  commemorating  the  representation  which  led  to 
the  first  step  in  the  conversion  of  Vladimir,  the  first 
Christian  Russian  prince. 

"  A  certain  Greek  philosopher,  a  monk  named  Constantine,  after 
having  exposed  the  insufficiency  of  other  religions,  eloquently  set 


CA  THEDRA  L  OF  THE  A  SS  UMP  TION.  1  7  9 

before  the  Prince  those  judgments  of  God  which  are  in  all  the  world, 
the  redemption  of  the  human  race  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  the 
retribution  of  the  life  to  come.  His  discourse  powerfully  affected  the 
heathen  monarch,  who  was  burdened  with  the  heavy  sins  of  a  tumul- 
tuous youth  ;  and  this  was  especially  the  case  when  the  monk  pointed 
out  to  him,  on  an  icon  which  represented  the  Last  Judgment,  the 
different  fate  of  the  righteous  and  wicked.  '  Good  to  those  on  the 
right  hand,  but  woe  to  those  on  the  left,'  exclaimed  Vladimir,  greatly 
moved,  though  his  sensual  nature  still  struggled  against  the  heavenly 
truth.  "  —  Mouravieff. 

The  five  domes,  here  said  to  typify  the  Metropolitan 
and  his  deacons,  are  supported  by  «huge  pillars  covered 
with  figures  of  the  Russian  saints  in  venerable  fresco, 
executed  by  Giovanni  Spissatelli  for  Vassili  Ivanovitch  in 


"  Here  the  veneration  for  pictorial  representations  has  reached  a 
pitch  which  gives  an  aspect  to  the  whole  building  as  unlike  any 
European  church  as  the  widest  differences  of  European  churches  can 
separate  each  from  each.  From  top  to  bottom,  from  side  to  side, 
walls  and  roof  and  screen  and  columns  are  a  mass  of  gilded  pictures  ; 
not  one  of  any  artistic  value  ;  not  one  put  in  for  the  sake  of  show  or 
effect,  but  all  cast  in  the  same  ancient  mold,  or  overcast  in  the  same 
venerable  hue  ;  and  each  one,  from  the  smallest  figure  in  the  smallest 
compartment,  to  the  gigantic  faces  which  look  down  with  their  large 
open  eyes  from  the  arched  vaults  above,  performing  its  own  part,  and 
bearing  a  relation  to  the  whole.  Only  one  other  style  of  sacred  archi- 
tecture is  recalled  by  this  strange  sight.  It  is  as  if  four  columns  (for 
there  are  but  four  in  an  Orthodox  Eastern  church)  had  been  trans- 
planted from  the  mighty  forest  of  pillars  in  the  great  temple  of  Egyp- 
tian Thebes.  High  and  massive  as  those  pillars  do  these  four  columns 
rise  up,  and  round  and  round  they  are  painted,  with  ever-  recurring 
pairs,  as  those  of  Egyptian  gods,  so  here  of  Christian  saints.  And  as 
the  walls  there  are  clothed  from  head  to  foot  with  battle-pieces  or 
sacred  processions,  so  here  with  apostles,  prophets,  patriarchs,  para- 
bles, history,  legends,  etc.  The  seven  Councils  of  the  Church  follow 
in  exact  and  uniform  order,  closing  on  the  western  wall  with  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  Last  Judgment.  In  one  sense,  the  resemblance  to 
Egypt  is  purely  accidental  ;  but  in  another  sense  it  is  almost  inevita- 
ble. Egypt  and  Russia  are  the  only  two  great  nations  in  which 
pictures  or  pictorial  emblems  have  entered  so  deeply  into  the  national 
life  and  religious  instruction  of  the  people.  Hieroglyphics  and  pic- 
tures constituted  more  than  half  the  learning  of  those  grown-up 
children  of  the  ancient  world  ;  they  still  constitute  more  than  half  the 
education  of  these  grown-up  children  of  the  modern  world.  And 
when  we  remember  that  some  of  these  pictures  have,  besides  their 
interest  as  the  emblems  of  truth  to  a  barbarian  and  childlike  people, 
acquired  the  historical  association  involved  in  the  part  they  have  taken 
in  the  great  national  events,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  combinations 
of  religious  and  patriotic  feelings  in  Russia  should  have  raised  their 


1 80  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

veneration  to  a  pitch   to   us   almost  inconceivable." — Stanley,  "  T^e 
Eastern  Church." 

Many  bodies  of  the  saints  lie  around,  those  of  greatest 
importance  occupying  the  corners  of  the  edifice,  here,  as 
in  all  Oriental  buildings,  the  place  of  honor.  High  in  the 
central  of  the  five  domes  is  the  little  chapel  of  the  Praise 
of  the  Mother  of  God,  where  the  Russian  patriarchs  were 
elected  "  near  the  grace-communicating  tombs  of  the 
great  wonder-workers,"  as  was  stated  in  their  proclama- 
tion. 

On  the  left  of  the  iconastos,  in  a  narrow  chapel,  is  the 
tomb  of  St.  Peter,  the  first  Metropolitan,  and  the  founder 
of  the  church  ;  and  hard  by  hangs  a  picture  of  the  Repose 
of  the  Virgin,  which  he  is  said  to  have  painted. 

"  The  Metropolitan  St.  Peter  foresaw  the  future  glory  of  Moscow 
while  it  was  as  yet  poor,  and  persuaded  Ivan  to  lay  in  it  the  foundation 
of  the  stone  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption.  '  If  thou  wilt  comfort  my 
old  age,'  said  he,  '  if  thou  wilt  build  here  a  temple  worthy  of  the 
Mother  of  God,  then  thou  shall  be  more  glorious  than  all  the  other 
princes,  and  thy  posterity  shall  become  great.  My  bones  shall  remain 
in  this  city,  prelates  shall  rejoice  to  dwell  in  it,  and  the  hands  of  its 
princes  shall  be  upon  the  necks  of  our  enemies  ! ' 

"  Thus,  in  the  words  of  the  ancient  patriarch  Jacob,  the  man  of 
many  labors,  who  in  the  hour  of  death  foretold  the  lion  strength  of 
the  tribe  of  judah,  St.  Peter,  also  a  man  of  many  labors,  when  about 
to  depart  in  peace  from  his  pilgrimage,  spoke  in  the  spirit  of  presci- 
ence to  Ivan  ;  and  his  word  of  commandment  was  obeyed,  his  prophecy 
was  fulfilled.  In  that  same  temple,  in  the  wall  of  which  he  prepared 
for  himself  beforehand  a  tomb,  in  the  view  of  his  uncorrupted  remains, 
and  as  it  were  before  the  face  and  presence  of  the  prelate  himself,  are 
crowned  the  successors  of  Ivan,  now  no  longer  princes  of  Moscow 
only,  or  Vladimir,  but  rulers  over  the  ninth  part  of  the  globe,  which 
scarcely  finds  room  upon  its  surface  for  one  such  empire  as  Russia." 
— Mouravieff. 

Close  by,  nearer  the  altar  of  the  same  chapel,  is  the 
tomb  of  St.  Theognostos,  who  succeeded  St.  Peter  as 
Metropolitan  in  1326,  and  died  of  the  black  plague  in 
1353.  In  the  corner  of  the  cathedral  opposite  this  chapel 
is  the  tomb  of  St.  Jonah,  who  succeeded  to  the  Metro- 
politan throne  at  the  time  when  Dmitri  Shemiaka  had 
seized  the  temporal  throne,  having  put  out  the  eyes  of 
Basil,  its  lawful  possessor.  Afterward  when  that  prince 
wished  to  abandon  the  capital,  besieged  by  the  Tartars, 
Jonah  swore  to  save  the  Kremlin,  or  that  he  would  be 


CATHEDRAL  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION,  181 

buried  beneath  its  ruins  with  the  people.1  On  account 
of  the  fall  of  the  Greek  empire,  he  was  the  first  Metro- 
politan appointed  by  a  council  of  Russian  bishops,  and 
he  was  also  the  last  bishop  of  Moscow  who  bore  the  title 
of  Metropolitan  of  Kieff.2 

' '  He  continued  for  seven  years  to  show  forth  an  example  of  all  the 
virtues  of  a  good  pastor  on  the  episcopal  throne  ;  he  consoled  the 
capital  under  its  sufferings  from  conflagration  and  from  a  dreadful 
invasion  of  the  Tartars,  who  all  but  got  possession  of  the  Kremlin  ; 
and  even  during  his  life  he  was  glorified  from  above  by  the  gifts  of 
prophecy  and  healing  ;  having,  like  St.  Peter,  foretold  the  deliverance 
of  Russia  from  the  yoke  of  the  infidels,  and  its  future  glory." — Mou- 
ravieff. 

It  is  said  that  when  Napoleon  was  in  Moscow,  he 
opened  the  coffin  of  Jonah  to  see  if  he  was  "  uncorrupt," 
but  the  saint  shook  his  finger,  and  the  emperor  started 
back  in  terror. 

In  the  corresponding  corner  of  the  western  wall  is  the 
tomb  of  Cyprian,  Metropolitan  at  the  time  of  the  invasion 
of  Tamerlane  (1395). 

"Cyprian  died  at  a  great  age.  Some  days  before  his  death,  in 
1406,  he  addressed  to  Vassili  (the  Grand  Prince),  to  all  the  Russian 
princes,  to  the  boyars,  clergy,  and  laymen,  a  letter,  in  which  he  gave 
them  his  blessing,  and  asked  them,  as  a  Christian,  for  forgiveness  of 
all  his  offenses.  When  the  letter  was  read  to  the  people  in  the 
Church  of  the  Assumption  by  Gregory,  Archbishop  of  Rostoff,  sighs 
and  sobs  re-ounded  on  all  sides  ;  and  from  this  time,  when  their  death 
is  at  hand,  all  Metropolitans  of  Moscow  have  composed  similar  letters 
of  farewell,  desiring  that  they  may  be  read  after  their  burial." — Kar- 
amsin. 

By  the  side  of  Cyprian  lies  his  successor  Photius,  in 
whose  time  Vladimir  was  destroyed  by  the  Tartars.  Close 
by,  a  most  picturesque  shrine  covers  a  relic  supposed  to 
be  the  seamless  coat  of  our  Saviour,  which  is  claimed  by 
Moscow  as  well  as  by  Treves. 

"  Philaret  received  from  the  Shah  Abbas  of  Persia,  then  famous  in 
the  East,  the  Seamless  Coat  of  our  Saviour,  which,  according  to  an 
ancient  tradition,  was  brought  into  Georgia  by  one  of  the  soldiers  who 
parted  his  garments  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  and  was  preserved  for 
many  ages  in  the  cathedral  of  Mtschet.  Abbas  could  not  have 
selected  a  better  guardian  for  such  a  holy  relic  ;  and  the  Tunic  of  our 
Lord,  which  was  distinguished  by  the  working  of  numerous  cures  ip 

i  Karamsin,  v.  2  See  Mouravieff- 


1 8  2  ST  UD2E  S  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

the  Russian  capital,  was  placed  by  the  patriarch  in  the  cathedral 
of  the  Rest  of  the  Virgin,  under  the  shade  of  a  brazen  tabernacle, 
near  which  he  himself  is  laid  down  to  his  everlasting  rest." — Mou- 
ravieff. 

Adjoining  this  on  one  side  is  the  tomb  of  the  Patriarch 
Hermogenes,  who  ruled  in  the  troublous  times  of  the 
Pretenders  and  of  the  Polish  invasion.  On  the  other 
side  (in  front  of  Cyprian  and  Photius)  is  the  tomb  of  his 
successor,  the  Patriarch  Philaret,  who  was  the  founder  of 
the  House  of  Romanoff,  which  was  so  called  from  his 
grandfather,  Roman.  Philaret's  secular  name  was  Feo- 
dor,  and  he  was  descended  from  Andrew,  a  Prussian 
prince,  who  came  to  Russia  in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  He  was  the  son  of  Nikita  Romanovitch,  and 
his  aunt  had  been  the  beloved  Tsaritsa  Anastasia,  first 
wife  of  Ivan  IV.  (the  Terrible).  The  jealousy  of  Boris 
Godunof  had  forced  him  to  become  a  priest,  when  he  had 
changed  his  name  to  Philaret.  But,  upon  the  accession 
of  Demetrius,  he  was  released  from  the  monastery  in 
which  he  had  been  confined,  and  made  archbishop  of 
Rostof.  When,  upon  the  deposition  of  Vassili  Shuiski,  it 
was  decided  to  elect  Ladislaus,  son  of  Sigismund  III.  of 
Poland,  as  Tsar,  Philaret  was  sent  as  ambassador  for  the 
purpose,  but  finding  the  king  engaged  in  the  siege  of 
Smolensk,  he  rebuked  him  for  dismembering  a  country 
which  was  likely  to  belong  to  his  son.  Sigismund,  in  his 
anger,  imprisoned  him  in  the  castle  of  Marienburg,  where 
he  was  detained  for  nine  years,  but  meantime  the  venera- 
tion for  him  in  Russia  became  such  as  to  lead  to  the  ele- 
vation of  his  son  Michael,  aged  only  seventeen,  to  the 
throne.  In  1619,  Philaret  was  released,  and,  on  reaching 
Moscow,  was  consecrated  patriarch.  From  that  time  he 
became  the  real  sovereign  of  the  country,  guiding  his 
son,  with  whom  he  was  associated  in  every  thing  till  his 
death  in  1633. 

The  remaining  corner,  on  the  right  of  the  iconastos,  is 
occupied  by  the  tomb  of  the  Metropolitan  St.  Philip 
(1565-1568),  the  one  martyr  of  the  Russian  Church. 

"  Alone  of  the  primates  of  Russia,  Philip  came  into  collision  with 
the  power  of  the  Tsar,  and  that  was  expressly  and  distinctly  wiih  the 
personal  cruelties,  not  with  the  secular  authority,  of  Ivan  the  Terrible. 
'  As  the  image  of  Divinity,  I  reverence  thee  ;  as  a  man,  thou  art  but 


CA  THEDRA  L  OF  THE  A  SS UMP  TION.  1 83 

dust  and  ashes.'  It  is  a  true  glory  to  the  Russian  Church,  and  an 
example  to  the  hierarchy  of  all  churches,  that  its  one  martyred  prelate 
should  have  suffered,  not  for  any  high  ecclesiastical  pretensions,  but 
in  the  simple  cause  of  justice  and  mercy.  '  Silence,'  he  said,  as  he  re- 
buked the  Tsar,  '  lays  sin  upon  the  soul  and  brings  death  to  the  whole 
people.  ...  I  am  a  stranger  and  a  pilgrim  upon  earth,  as  all  my 
fathers  were,  and  I  am  ready  to  suffer  for  the  truth.  Where  would 
my  faith  be  if  I  kept  silence  ?  .  .  .  Here  we  are  off ering  up  the  blood- 
less sacrifice  to  the  Lord,  while  behind  the  altar  flows  the  innocent 
blood  of  Christian  men.'  As  he  was  dragged  away  from  the  cathedral, 
his  one  word  was  '  Pray.'  " — Stanley  s  "  Eastern  Chxrch" 

"Ivan  sent  his  worthy  assistant,  Maliouta  Skouratoff,  as  if  for 
Philip's  blessing,  to  the  Otroch  monastery  at  Tver.  But  St.  Philip 
quietly  said  to  him,  'Execute  thy  mission,'  and  was  strangled  in  his 
cell,  suffering  for  the  truth  like  another  John  the  Baptist.1  The 
Church  of  Russia  has  been  distinguished  by  many  great  prelates,  but 
among  them  all  there  is  only  this  one  martyr,  and  his  glory  is  incor- 
ruptible, even  as  are  his  holy  relics  themselves.  The  living  words 
which  he  spoke  have  kept,  as  it  were,  life  and  power  in  hi*  dead  body, 
and  this  immovable  pillar  which  supports  the  Church  crumbles  not 
away.  On  four  such  pillars  the  Church  of  Moscow  and  of  all  Russia 
rests  :  Peter,  Alexis,  Jonah,  Philip.  Who  can  shake  so  firm  a  found- 
ation ?  The  relics  of  the  holy  martyr  lie  in  the  cathedral  ;  in  vain 
the  Solovetsky  monastery  desired  to  have  them  in  the  days  of  the  mild 
Feodor,  that  he,  who  had  aforetime  chosen  the  rocky  cave  of  the  ocean 
to  be  his  lone  retreat,  might  rest  within  hearing  of  its  hoary  waves. 
It  was  right  that  the  good  shepherd,  who  had  laid  down  his  life  for 
the  sheep,  should  repose  on  the  spot  where  he  had  labored  and  suf- 
fered. " — Mouravieff. 

In  the  service  for  "  Orthodox  Sunday,"  so  striking 
here,  where  those  mentioned  are  lying  around,  the  Russian 
Church  offers 

"  to  the  most  holy  Russian  patriarchs,  John,  Hermogenes,  Philaret, 
Joasaph,  Joseph,  Nicon,  Joasaph,  Peterimus,  Joachim,  Adrian,  ever- 
lasting remembrance." 

In  front  of  the  choir  stand  three  thrones,  for  the  Tsar, 
the  Patriarch,  and  the  Tsaritsa.  That  for  the  Tsar,  called 
the  throne  of  Vladimir  Monomachus,  is  very  curious. 
The  Tsars  did  not  sit  down,  but  stood  in  their  thrones 
during  service,  as  in  a  pulpit.  The  throne  of  the  Patriarch 
being  equal  to  that  of  the  Tsar,  indicated  his  supposed 
equality  in  ecclesiastical  power,  though  he  had  very  little 
power  independent  of  the  sovereign.  Yet  two  of  the 

i  According  to  Archbishop  Plato,  the  followers  of  Skouratoff  smothered  the 
Metropolitan  with  pillows.  The  date  of  martyrdom  coincides  with  the  early  years 
of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  in  England. 


1 84  STUDIES  IN  R USSIA. 

patriarchs  (Philaret  and  Nikon),  like  the  Tsar,  were  called 
the  "  Great  Lord  "  (veliki  gosudar).  There  were  eleven 
Russian  patriarchs,  of  whom  the  greatest  was  Nikon. 

"  External  changes  affected  very  slightly  the  character  and  bearing 
of  those  who  filled  the  see.  An  almost  uniform  spirit  breathes  through 
them  all.  They  were  mostly  blameless  and  venerable  men  ;  some  had 
not  unimportant  parts  to  play  in  the  leading  events  of  Russian  history. 
The  personal  veneration  shown  to  them  probably  exceeded  the  respect 
attaching  to  ecclesiastics  of  the  West." — Stanley's  "Eastern  Chtirch" 

The  last  patriarch,  who  died  in  1700,  was  Adrian,  to 
whom  Peter  the  Great  refused  to  appoint  a  successor. 
Stephen  Yavorsky,  archbishop  of  Novogorod,  chief  of  the 
conservative  clergy,  who  aspired  himself  to  become 
patriarch,  urged  Peter  to  remove  or  fill  the  throne  in  the 
cathedral.  He  replied,  "  This  chair  is  not  for  Stephen  to 
sit  in,  nor  for  Peter  to  break."  1  The  throne  remains,  but 
the  dignity  of  patriarch  was  formally  abolished  in  1721, 
the  archbishops  of  Moscow  having  since  been  only  metro- 
politans, as  they  were  before  1587,  when  the  patriarchate 
was  established  by  Feodor.  The  edict  which  Peter  pub- 
lished when  suppressing  the  patriarchate  sets  forth  as  his 
reasons  that — 

"  The  common  people  are  incapable  of  understanding  the  distinction 
between  the  spiritual  power  and  the  temporal  power  :  dazzled  by  the 
virtue  and  splendor  which  illumine  the  chief  pastor  of  the  Church, 
they  imagine  him  to  be  a  second  sovereign,  equal  in  power  to  the  auto- 
crat and  even  superior  to  him  ;  if  a  disagreement  arises  between  the 
patriarch  and  the  Tsar,  they  are  incljned  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the 
former,  imagining  that  in  it  they  espBuse  the  cause  of  God  Himself." 

Since  the  abolition  of  the  Patriarchate,  the  "  Most  Holy 
Synod,"  which  Peter  established  in  its  place,  has  been  the 
highest  ecclesiastical  power,  but  in  this  the  Tsar — "  the 
supreme  defender  and  preserver  of  the  dogmas  of  the 
dominant  faith" — is  still,  as  was  said  of  Peter  the  Great, 
"  the  mainspring,  and  the  pendulum  his  understanding." 
The  synod  consists  of  eight  members,  of  whom  six  are 
bishops,  and  two  (representing  the  White  clergy)  are 
arch-priests,  being  the  high  almoners  of  the  army  and 
fleet. 

Here,  in  the  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption,  above  the 

I  Dissertations  on  the  Orthodox  Communion. 


CATHEDRAL  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION.  185 

"  royal  doors"  of  the  iconastos,  are  seen  the  Four  Evan- 
gelists, typifying  that  through  those  portals  are  received 
the  tidings  of  the  Eucharist.  On  either  side  Adam  and 
the  Penitent  Thief  are  represented,  as  the  first  fallen  and 
the  first  redeemed.  Beyond  these  are  the  Virgin  and  the 
Baptist.  Upon  the  screen  itself  hang  the  most  sacred 
pictures  in  Russia.  The  first  is  the  Virgin  of  Vladimir, 
attributed  to  St.  Luke,  which  is  supposed  to  have  saved 
Russia  from  the  Tartars,  and  which  persuaded  Boris 
Godunof  to  accept  the  throne.  It  is  adorned  with  jewels 
valued  at45,ooo/.1  Next  comes  the  Virgin  of  Jerusalem, 
being  a  copy,  which  was  made  for  the  patriarch  Nikon,  of 
a  picture  brought  from  Jerusalem  to  Constantinople  in 
453,  and  to  Russia  in  898  by  Vladimir,  the  original  having 
been  lost  during  the  French  invasion.  The  third  icon  is 
"  the  Saviour  in  the  Gold  Chasuble,"  painted  by  the 
Emperor  Manuel,  and  brought  from  Novogorod  the  Great 
in  1478. 

"  The  history  of  a  single  picture  becomes  almost  the  history  of  the 
nation.  Brought  by  Vladimir  from  Cherson,  believed  to  have  been 
painted  by  Constantine  the  Great,  used  on  every  great  occasion  of 
national  thanksgiving  and  deliverance,  deposited  in  the  most  sacred  of 
Russian  cathedrals,  the  picture,  as  it  is  called,  of  '  Our  Lady  of 
Vladimir'  represents  exactly  the  idea  of  an  ancient  palladium  ;  while 
the  fact  that  it  is  not  a  graven  statue  vindicates  it  in  Russian  eyes 
from  all  likeness  to  a  pagan  idol." — Stanley. 

It  is  interesting  here,  while  surrounded  by  the  memorials 
of  three  of  the  greatest  saints  of  the  Russian  Church,  to 
hear  their  names  mentioned  in  one  of  the  prayers  which 
are  in  most  frequent  use  : — 

"O  most  merciful  Lord,  Jesus  Christ  our  God,  who  rulest  over 
all,  through  the  prayers  of  our  most  honorable  Lady,  the  mother  of 
God,  and  ever-virgin  Mary  ;  through  the  aid  of  the  holy,  heavenly, 
immaterial  virtues  of  the  venerable  prophet,  forerunner,  and  Baptist 
John  ;  of  the  holy,  glorious,  and  illustrious  apostles  ;  of  our  holy 
fathers,  and  universal  great  doctors  and  prelates,  Basil  the  Great, 
Gregory  the  divine,  and  John  Chrysostom  ;  of  our  holy  father  Nicholas, 
archbishop  of  Myra  in  Lycia,  the  wonder-worker  ;  of  our  holy  fathers 
the  wonder-workers  in  Russia — Peter,  Alexis,  Jonas,  and  Philip  ;  of 
the  holy,  glorious,  and  victorious  martyrs  ;  of  the  holy  and  illustrious 
parents  of  God,  Joachim  and  Anna  (of  the  saint  whose  church  it  is,  by 

i  The  Russian  Church  acknowledges  only  three  pictures  of  the  Virgin  as  the 
work  of  St.  Luke,  the  Madonna  of  Vladimir,  a  picture  in  the  Morea,  and  one  in 
Cyprus. 


1 86  S  TUDIE  S  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

name)  ;  and  of  all  saints,  let  our  prayers  be  well-pleasing  unto  Thee  ; 
grant  us  forgiveness  of  our  sins  ;  hide  us  under  the  shadow  of  Thy 
wings  ;  drive  away  from  us  every  enemy  and  every  adversary  ;  grant 
us  a  useful  life  :  have  mercy  on  us,  and  on  Thy  world,  and  save  our 
souls  ;  for  Thou  art  good,  and  the  lover  of  mankind." — King. 

Every  thing  in  this  conservative  cathedral  belongs  to 
the  old  religion.  There  is  no  tomb  later  than  the  time  of 
the  reformer  Nikon.  Of  the  reformer  himself  we  may  be 
reminded  by  the  iron  pavement  upon  which  he  threw  down 
the  'jcons  painted  after  the  Frankish  models  which  he 
loathed,  and  dashed  them  to  pieces,  and  by  the  holy  gates, 
through  which,  in  1658,  Nikon  emerged  bearing  the  staff 
of  St.  Peter,  the  first  Metropolitan,  and  laid  it  down  before 
the  most  sacred  of  the  icons  as  he  announced  his  abdica- 
tion. 

The  coronations  which  take  place  in  this  church  are 
preceded  by  fastings  and  seclusion  on  the  part  of  the 
Emperor.  In  the  ceremony  itself  the  monarch  is  no  pas- 
sive recipient,  but  the  leading  actor  in  the  scene  ;  himself 
reciting  the  confession  of  the  orthodox  faith  ;  himself 
alone,  upon  his  knees,  offering  the  intercessory  prayer  for 
the  empire  ;  himself  placing  the  crown  on  his  own  head  ; 
himself  entering  the  doors  of  the  inner  sanctuary,  and 
taking  from  the  altar  the  bread  and  wine,  of  which,  in 
virtue  of  his  consecration,  he  communicates  with  the 
ecclesiastics  present.1  The  cathedral  should  be  visited 
on  one  of  the  great  church  festivals  when  the  Metropolitan 
officiates  in  person. 

"  The  position  of  the  Metropolitan  (officiating  in  the  cathedral)  was 
such  as  might  have  excited  envy  in  the  minds  not  only  of  English 
ritualists,  but  of  the  greatest  Popes  and  cardinals  of  the  West.  Never 
have  I  seen  such  respect  paid  to  any  ecclesiastic  ;  not  only  during  all 
the  elaboration  of  the  Russian  ceremonial — when  with  the  utmost  sim- 
plicity he  bore  the  clothing  and  unclothing,  and  even  the  passing  to 
and  fro  of  the  broad  comb  through  the  outstanding  flakes  of  his  hair 
and  beard — or  when  he  stood  on  the  carpet  where  was  embroidered 
the  old  Roman  eagle  of  the  Pagan  empire.  But  still  more  at  the 
moment  of  his  departure.  He  came  out  for  the  last  time  in  the  service 
to  give  his  blessing,  and  then  descended  the  chancel  steps  to  leave  the 
church.  Had  he  been  made  of  pure  gold,  and  had  every  touch  carried 
away  a  fragment  of  him,  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  could  hardly 
have  been  greater  to  kiss  his  hand,  or  lay  a  finger  on  the  hem  of  his 

i  Boris  Godunof  also  rent  his  robes  at  his  coronation  to  signify  that  he  should 
always  be  ready  to  divide  his  goods  with  the  poor. 


CATHEDRAL  OP  THE  AtftfUXCIATION.         187 

garment.  The  crowd  frantically  tossed  to  and  fro,  as  they  struggled! 
toward  him — men,  officers,  soldiers.  Faintly  and  slowly  his  white 
cowl  was  seen  moving  on  and  out  of  the  church,  till  he  plunged  into 
another  vaster  crowd  outside  ;  and  when  at  last  he  drove  off  in  his 
coach  drawn  by  six  black  horses,  every  one  stood  bareheaded  as  he 
passed.  The  sounding  of  the  bells  in  all  the  churches  in  each  street  as 
the  carriage  passed  by,  made  it  easy  to  track  his  course  long  after  he 
was  out  of  sight." — Stanley's  "Essays  on  Church  and  State." 

The  little  Cathedral  of  the  Annunciation — Blagovestchen- 
ski  Sobor — distinguished  by  its  many  golden  domes,  is 
almost  overshadowed  by  the  immense  palace  which  rises 
behind  it.  It  occupies  the  site  of  a  church  erected  by 
Andrew  III.,  son  of  Alexander  Nevskoi,  in  1291,  but 
chiefly  dates  from  the  time  of  Ivan  the  Terrible.  It  is 
approached  by  a  passage  lined  with  frescoes  of  Homer, 
Thucydides,  Pythagoras,  and  Plato,  as  preparers  of  the 
way  for  Christianity.1  There  is  no  dim  religious  light, 
only  gorgeous  barbaric  splendor,  and  a  pavement  of  agate 
and  jasper,  on  which  the  marriages  of  the  Tsars  were 
celebrated. 

To  the  foreigner,  there  would  seem  to  be  more  of  idol- 
atry to  the  icons  here,  than  to  the  most  sacred  images  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  ruder  the  art,  the 
more  intense  appears  to  be  the  devotion  aroused  ;  a 
blackened  painted  board,  gaudily  tinseled  over,  excites 
the  deepest  religious  feelings  of  the  Russians. 

Of  the  icons  in  this  cathedral,  the  most  famous  is  the 
Virgin  of  the  Don,  which  was  carried  at  the  battle  of 
Kulikovo  (1380),  and  was  again  taken  out  against  the 
enemy  by  Boris  Godunof  in  1591,  when  defending  Mos- 
cow for  his  brother-in-law,  the  Tsar  Feodor  Ivanovitch, 
against  Kazi  Hirey,  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea. 

"  With  the  greatest  good  will  in  the  world,  the  French  did  not  dis- 
cover all  the  gold  here.  A  rent  was  made  with  hammer  and  tongs  in 
the  frame  of  the  Virgin  of  the  Don,  which  is  of  pure  gold,  but  they 
were  smitten  with  blindness,  and  rejected  it  as  copper.  The  priests 
would  not  allow  the  rent  to  be  repaired,  and  show  it  triumphantly  to 
strangers  as  a  proof  of  the  miracle.  The  golden  cross  that  graces  the 
central  cupola  also  escaped.  The  French  had  heard  of  a  massive 
golden  cross  in  one  of  the  churches  of  the  Kremlin,  and  supposed  the 
great  far-off  glittering  cross  of  the  '  Great  Ivan'  to  be  the  right  one. 
Napoleon  caused  it  to  be  taken  down,  and  convinced  himself  that  it 

i  The  same  pioneers  are  represented  in  many  other  churches  of  the  Eastern 
Church. 


STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 


was  made  of  wood,  covered  with  copper-gilt  ;   while  the  real  golden 
cross  remained  safely  among  his  three  mock  brethren. 

"  Thus  the  French  twice  exposed  themselves  to  the  ridicule  of  the 
Russians  :  once  by  rejecting  gold  as  copper,  and  once  by  carrying  off 
copper  for  gold." — Kohl. 

The  ballad  of  Dmitri,  the  conqueror  of  Kulikovo,  is 
one  of  the  most  striking  of  those  sung  by  the  kalie'ki. 
The  scene  is  laid  in  this  church  nine  years  after  the 
famous  battle  against  the  Tartars. 

' '  On  the  eve  of  the  Saturday  of  St.  Dmitri,  in  the  holy  cathedral  of 
the  Annunciation,  St.  Cyprian  the  metropolitan  was  singing  the  mass, 


CATHEDRAL  OF  THE  ANNUNCIATION. 

and  the  prince  Dmitri  was  assisting  with  his  princess  Eudoxia,  with 
his  princes  and  boyars,  with  his  famous  captains. 

"  Suddenly  Prince  Dmitri  ceased  to  pray  ;  he  leaned  against  apillar, 
he  was  suddenly  rapt  in  his  spirit  ;  his  spiritual  eyes  were  opened  ;  he 
had  a  strange  vision. 

"  He  no  longer  saw  the  candles  burning  before  the  icons  :  he  no 
longer  heard  the  music  of  the  sacred  choirs  :  it  was  the  wild  country, 
the  battle-field  of  Kulikovo,  which  he  saw.  It  was  sown  with  the 
corpses  of  Christians  and  Tartars,  the  bodies  of  the  Christians  like 
melting  wax,  the  bodies  of  the  Tartars  like  black  pitch. 

"  On  this  field  of  Kulikovo,  the  holy  Mother  of  God  was  walking. 
Behind  her  were  the  angels  of  the  Saviour ;  the  angels  and  the  holy 
archangels,  with  burning  tapers  :  they  sang  the  holy  songs  over  the 
relics  of  the  orthodox  warriors  ;  it  was  the  Mother  of  God  herself  who 
incensed  them,  and  crowns  descended  upon  them  from  heaven. 


CATHEDRAL  OF  THE  ARCHANGEL.      189 

"And  the  Mother  of  God  asked,  'Where  is  the  Prince  Dmitri  ?' 
The  Apostle  Peter  answered  her,  '  The  Prince  Dmitri  is  in  the  town 
of  Moscow,  and  in  the  holy  cathedral  of  the  Assumption  ;  he  is  hear- 
ing the  liturgy  with  his  princess  Eudoxia,  with  his  princes  and  boyars, 
with  his  famous  captains.' 

"  Then  the  Mother  of  God  said  :  '  The  Prince  Dmitri  is  not  in  his 
place  :  he  should  be  leading  the  choirs  of  the  martyrs  :  but  as  for  his 
princess,  her  place  is  in  my  flock.' 

"Then  the  vision  vanished.  The  candles  were  burning  in  the 
church,  the  precious  stones  sparkled  upon  the  altars.  Dmitri  came  to 
himself,  wept  abundantly,  and  spoke  thus  : — 

"  '  Know  that  the  hour  of  my  death  is  at  hand,  soon  I  shall  be  laid 
in  the  coffin,  and  my  princess  will  take  the  veil.' 

"  And  in  memory  of  this  strange  vision,  he  instituted  the  Saturday 
of  St.  Dmitri." 

The  Cathedral  of  the  Archangel  Michael — Arkhangelsk! 
Sobor — was  originally  built  to  commemorate  the  deliver- 
ance of  Russia  from  famine  in  1333.  The  existing  building 
is  due  to  Aleviso  of  Milan  in  1507,  but  has  since  been 
restored.  Ivan  the  Great  removed  hither  the  remains  of 
the  earlier  princes  who  had  been  buried  in  a  more  ancient 
church  from  the  time  of  its  builder,  Ivan  Kalita,  grandson 
of  Alexander  Nevskoi  (1341),  and  the  sovereigns  con- 
tinued to  be  interred  here  till  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great, 
whose  grandson,  the  Emperor  Peter  II.,  has  been  the 
only  prince  buried  here  since.  The  tombs  are  arranged  in 
genealogical  order,  "  a  sepulchral  chronicle  of  the  Russian 
monarchy."  1  Forty-five  princes  lie  within  the  walls  of  the 
church,  their  simple  tombs  covered  with  palls.  Many  are 
brothers  or  sons  of  sovereigns,  who  frequently,  like  the 
uncles  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  died  unnatural  deaths. 

Above  the  grave  of  each  prince  who  was  a  sovereign  is 
his  figure  painted  in  the  white  robes,  not  of  canonization, 
but  of  the  consecration  at  his  coronation,  immediately 
after  which  he  always  visited  this  church.  Here,  that  he 
might  call  to  mind  more  vividly  their  exploits  and  their 
virtues,  Dmitri  of  the  Don  came  to  pray  amid  the  tombs 
of  his  ancestors  immediately  before  his  victorious  expe- 
dition against  the  Tartars,2  and  here  (1389)  St.  Sergius 
assisted  at  the  funeral  rites  of  the  hero  himself.  Among 
the  earliest  princes  transferred  here  from  the  old  church, 
are  Ivan  Kalita,  (1341),  its  founder,  and  his  son,  Simeon 
the  Proud,  who  died  of  the  Plague  (whose  will  is  the  first 

i  Stephen  of  Moldavia.  2  Karamsin,  v. 


1 90  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

document  on  paper,  not  parchment,  existing  in  Russia). 
Next  to  these  are  Ivan  II.  (1359),  and  his  grandson 
Dmitri  Donskoi  (1389),  who  gained  the  great  victory  at 
Kulikovo  over  the  Tartar  Mamai,  which  was,  however,  so 
useless  in  protecting  Moscow  from  the  Tartars,  by  whom 
it  was  sacked  and  burned,  that  Dmitri,  weeping  afterward 
over  the  ruins  of  his  capital,  cried,  "  Our  fathers,  who 
gained  no  victories  over  the  Tartars,  were  happier  than 
we."  Next  follow  Vassili  Dmitrivitch  (1425),  and  Vassili 
the  Blind  (1462),  under  whom  the  Tartar  punishment  of 
the  knout  was  introduced  into  Russia. 

The  tombs  contemporary  with  the  existing  church 
begin  with  that  of  its  founder  Ivan  III.,  or  the  Great 
(1462-1505),  who  established  the  Russian  monarchy,  that 
strange  victor  of  Kazan  "  who  triumphed  over  his 
enemies  while  remaining  quietly  at  home." 1  In  his 
reign  the  knowledge  of  gunpowder  and  the  art  of  cast- 
ing cannon  were  brought  into  Russia,  and  the  kremlins 
of  Moscow  and  Novogorod  were  built  by  Italian  archi- 
tects. His  second  wife  was  Sophia  Paleologus,  the  last 
of  her  line,  through  whom  Russia  inherited  the  ceremo- 
nial of  the  Byzantine  empire. 

"  Ivan  became  one  of  the  most  illustrious  monarchs  of  Europe; 
honored  and  respected  from  Rome  to  Constantinople,  from  Vienna  to 
Copenhagen,  equal  to  the  emperors  and  the  proud  sultans.  Without 
study,  without  other  guide  than  his  own  genius,  he  taught  himself  wise 
precepts  of  external  and  internal  policy  : 2  employing  force  and  craft 
in  turn  to  establish  the  independence  and  integrity  of  Russia,  to 
destroy  the  empire  of  Bati  Khan,  to  repress  and  divide  Lithuania,  to 
annihilate  the  liberty  of  the  Novogorodians,  to  resume  the  appanages 
formerly  granted,  and  reunite  them  to  the  Grand-Principality,  to  extend 
the  Moscovite  domains  as  far  as  the  deserts  of  Siberia  and  to  the  Nor- 
wegian Laponia.  He  created,  on  the  basis  of  a  far-sighted  modera- 
tion, a  prudent  system  of  war  and  peace,  which  his  successor  had  only 
to  follow  in  order  to  consolidate  the  power  of  the  State.  .  .  .  He 
wished,  by  all  possible  external  means,  so  to  raise  himself  above  his 
fellow-men,  as  to  make  a  strong  impression  upon  the  imagination  ; 
having  at  length  penetrated  the  secret  of  autocracy,  Ire  became  like  an 
earthly  god  to  the  eyes  of  the  Russians,  who  began  from  that  time  to 
astonish  all  other  nations  by  their  blind  submission  to  the  will  of  their 
sovereign.  He  was  the  first  in  Russia  to  receive  the  surname  of  the 
Terrible,  but  he  was  terrible  only  to  his  enemies  and  to  rebels.  Mean- 

1  Karamsin,  v. 

2  See  The  Laws  of  the  Grand  Prince  Ivan  III.  Vassilievitch^andof  the  Tsar 
Ivan  IV.  Vassilievitch,  edited  by  Kala'idovitch  Stroef  (Moscow,  1819). 


CATHEDRAL  OF  THE  ARCHANGEL.      191 

THE  GRAND-PRINCES  AND  TSARS  OF  MO  SCO  W 
AND  THEIR  SONS. 


DANIEL,  fourth  son  of  Alexander  Nevskoi, 
and  sixth  in  descent  from  Vladimir  Monomachus 

_  !  _ 

Youri        Alexander          Boris  IVAN  I.  (Kalita),        Athanasius 

1328-1341 

SIMEON  (the  Proud),  1340-1353        IVAN  II.,  1353-1359  Andrew 

|  |         Vladimir  the  Brave 

DMITRI  (Donskoi),  1363-1389  Ivan 

Daniel        VASSILI  I.  (Dmitrivitch),        Youri        Andrew       Peter       Ivan        Constantine 
1389-1425 

Ivan  VASSILI  II.  (the  Blind),        Anne,  who  married  Manuel,  son  of  the  Emperor 

1425-1465  of  Constantinople,  1414 


d 


Youri  IVAN  III.  (the  Great),  Youri  Andrew  Boris  Andrew 

1462-^1505 

_  I  _ 

Ivan  VASSILI  III.  (Ivanovitch),       Youri  Dmitri  Simeon  Andrew 


Dmitri        IVAN  IV.  (the  Terrible),         Youri 
1533-1584 

Dmitri        Ivan        FEODOR  (Ivanovitch),  St.  Dmitri 

1584-1598 

BORIS  GODUNOF  (brother-in-law  of  Feodor),  by  popular  election,  1598-1605 
FEODOR  BORISVITCH,  by  succession  to  his  father,  1605 
DMITRI,  the  Usurper,  1605-1606 

VASSILI  SHOUISKI,  by  election  of  the  Moscovites  only,  1606 
MICHAEL  ROMANOFF  (Feodorovitch)  by  popular  election,  1613-1645 
ALEXIS  (Michailovitch), 


1645-1676 


OOR  (A 

1676-1 


FEODOR  (Alexievitch),  IVAN,  PETER  THE  GREAT 

"-1682  1682-1695  1682-1700 


1 9 2  STUDIES  IX  R I  'SSL  I . 

while,  without  being  a  tyrant,  like  his  grandson  Ivan  IV.,  he  had  a 
certain  natural  harshness  of  character,  which  he  knew  how  to  subdue 
by  his  strength  of  will.  It  is  said  that  a  single  glance  from  Ivan, 
when  he  was  in  a  paroxysm  of  fury,  was  enough  to  make  timid  women 
faint  away  ;  that  suppliants  dreaded  to  approach  his  throne  ;  that  even 
at  his  table,  the  nobles  trembled  before  him,  not  daring  to  utter  a 
single  word  or  to  make  the  slightest  movement.  While  the  monarch, 
fatigued  with  noisy  converse,  and  warmed  with  wine,  gave  himself  up 
to  sleep  toward  the  end  of  the  repast,  all,  seated  in  profound  silence, 
waited  for  a  fresh  order  to  amuse  themselves  before  they  presumed  to 
be  merry." — Karamsin,  vi. 

The  space  on  one  side  of  Ivan  the  Great  is  occupied 
by  his  father  Vassili  Vassilievitch,  Basil  the  Blind,  whose 
eyes  were  put  out  by  his  cousin  Shemiaka,  when  he  had 
seized  his  throne,  and  hoped  thus  to  disqualify  the  Grand 
Prince  from  reascending  it,  though  he  was  eventually 
reinstated  by  the  affection  and  pity  of  his  subjects.  On 
the  other  side  of  Ivan  III.  rests  his  son,  Vassili  Ivano- 
vitch  (1505-1533)  under  whom  the  movement  was  con- 
tinued which  impelled  Russia  toward  unity  and  autoc- 
racy. The  next  tomb  of  a  sovereign  prince  is  that  of 
his  son  and  successor  Ivan  IV.  "the  Terrible  "  (1533- 
1584),  the  first  ruler  who  took  the  name  of  Tsar.1  Hav- 
ing been  treated  with  the  greatest  harshness  and  insolence 
by  the  boyars  after  his  father's  death,  and  still  more  after 
that  of  his  mother  the  Regent  Helena,  who  perished  by 
poison,  he  confounded  his  enemies  by  an  extraordinary 
coup  d'etat  when  he  was  only  thirteen  years  old,  and  seized 
the  supreme  power,  which  he  never  let  go  again.  Ren- 
dered famous  early  in  his  reign  by  the  final  conquest  of 
Kazan,  it  is  to  this  prince  that  Russia  owes  its  first 
written  code  of  laws  ;  he  it  is  who  instituted  the  first 
standing  army  ;  who  abolished  the  use  of  the  bow,  and 
trained  his  soldiers  to  the  use  of  firearms ;  who 
introduced  printing  into  Russia,2  promoted  commerce, 
encouraged  foreign  merchants  ;  who  granted  free  exer- 
cise of  their  religion  to  foreigners,  and  formed  the 

1  "  This  word  is  not  an  abridgment  of  the  Latin  '  Caesar,'  as  many  learned  per- 
sons believe  without  foundation.     It  is  an  ancient  Oriental  name  known  in   Russia 
through  the  Slavonic  translation  of  the  Bible.     Applied  at  first  to  the  emperors  of 
the  East,  and  then   to   the   Tartar  khans,  it  signifies  in   Persian   the  throne,  the 
supreme  authority,  and  it  may  be  observed  in  the  termination  of  the  names  of 
kings  of  Assyria  and  Babylon,  such  as  Phalassar,  Nabonassar." — Karamsin,  vi. 

2  The  printing  press  was  established  in  1553,  but  the  first  printed  volume,  the 
"  Acts  of  the  Apostles,"  preserved  in  the  Imperial  Library  at  St.  Petersburg,  did 
not  appear  till  1564. 


CATHEDRAL  Of  THE  ARCHANGEL.      193 

design,  cut  short  by  his  death,  of  instituting  colleges  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  Latin  and  German  languages. 
These  virtues,  and  the  increasing  devotion  of  the 
Russians  to  their  sovereign,  caused  the  whole  people 
to  implore  him  to  retain  his  throne  when  he  wished  to 
abdicate,  though  by  his  vengeance  for  the  severity  with 
which  he  had  been  treated  by  the  boyars  in  early  life,  he 
well  deserved,  as  a  man,  the  surname  by  which  he  is 
remembered.  Endless  are  the  terrible  stories  which  are 
told  about  him.  It  is  said  that  if,  when  he  was  out 
walking,  he  met  with  any  one  whose  appearance  displeased 
him,  he  would  order  his  head  to  be  struck  off  at  once, 
and  he  would  let  bears  loose  upon  the  crowds  in  the 
streets  of  Moscow,  that  he  might  divert  himself  with 
their  outcries.  There  is  a  characteristic  though  fabulous 
story,  that  he  ordered  the  hat  of  an  English  ambassador, 
Sir  Jerome  Bowes,  to  be  nailed  to  his  head,  because  he 
did  not  remove  it  in  his  presence.  When  he  was  already 
married  to  his  fifth  wife,  he  proposed  for  Lady  Mary 
Hastings,  under  the  impression  that  she  was  cousin  to 
Elizabeth  of  England,  though  when  the  lady  heard  of  his 
cruelties  and  of  how  often  he  had  been  married  already, 
she  persuaded  her  father  to  refuse  to  let  her  go.  Event- 
ually Ivan  died  of  grief  for  the  death  of  his  son  Ivan 
from  a  blow  on  the  head  which  his  own  hand  had  given 
with  the  same  iron-pointed  staff  with  which  he  is  said  to 
have  pinned  to  the  ground  the  foot  of  the  messenger 
who  brought  him  the  news  of  Prince  Andrew  Kourbsky's 
having  deserted  to  the  Poles,  leaning  upon  it  while  he 
read  the  letter. 

' '  II  faut  vous  decrire,  une  f ois  pour  toutes,  quelques-uns  des  raffine- 
ments  de  cruaute  inventes  par  lui  centre  les  soi-disant  coupables  qu'il 
veut  punir  :  il  les  fait  bouillir  par  parties,  tandis  qu'on  les  arrose  d'eau 
glacee  sur  le  reste  du  corps  :  il  les  fait  ecorcher  vifs  en  sa  presence  ;  puis 
il  fait lacerer  par lanieres  leurs  chairs mises  arm  et  palpitantes  ;  cepen- 
dant  ses  yeux  ce  repaissent  de  leur  sang,  de  leurs  convulsions  ;  ses 
oreilles,  de  leurs  cris  ;  quelquefois  il  les  acheve  de  sa  main  a  coups  de 
poignards,  mais  le  plus  souvent,  se  reprochant  cet  acte  de  clemence 
comme  une  faiblesse,  il  menage  aussi  longtemps  que  possible  le  coeur 
et  la  tete,  pour  faire  durer  le  supplice  ;  il  ordonne  qu'on  depece  les 
membres,  mais  avec  art  et  sans  attaquer  le  tronc  ;  puis  il  fait  jeter  un 
a  un  ces  troncons  vivants  a  des  betes  affamees  et  avides  de  cette  miser- 
able  chair  dont  elles  s'arrachent  les  affreux  lambeaux,  en  presence  des 
victimes  a  demi-hachees. 


1 94  STUDIES  IN  R U'SSIA. 

"  Quand  il  se  venge,  il  poursuit  le  cours  de  ses  justices  jusqu'ail 
dernier  degre  de  parente,  exterminant  des  families  entieres,  jeunes  filles, 
vieillards,  femmes  grosses  et  petits  enfants  ;  il  ne  se  borne  pas,  comme 
les  tyrans  vulgaires,  a  frapper  simplement  quelques  families,  quelques 
individus  suspects  ;  on  le  voit,  singeant  le  Dieu  des  Juifs,  tuer  jusqu'a 
des  provinces  sans  y  faire  grace  a  personne  ;  toute  y  passe,  tout  ce  qui 
a  eu  vie  disparait ;  tout,  jusqu'aux  animaux,  jusqu'aux  poissons  qu'il 
empoisonne  dans  les  lacs,  dans  les  rivieres,  le  croirez-vous  ?  II  oblige 
les  fils  a  faire  1'ofnce  de  bourreaux  centre  leurs  peres  !  .  .  .  et  il  s'en 
trouve  qui  obeissent ! 

"  Se  servant  de  corps  humains  pour  horloges,  Ivan  invente  des  poi- 
sons a  heure  fixe,  et  parvient  a  marquer  avec  une  regularite  satisfaisante 
les  moindres  divisions  de  son  temps  par  le  mort  de  ses  sujets,  eche- 
lonnes  avec  art  de  minute  en  minute  sur  le  chemin  du  tombeau  qu'il 
tient  sans  cesse  ouvert  pour  eux  ;  la  precision  la  plus  scrupuleuse 
preside  a  ce  divertissement  infernal." — M.  de  Custine. 

And  yet 

*•  Neither  tortures  nor  dishonor  had  the  power  of  weakening  the 
devotion  of  the  Russians  to  their  sovereign.  Of  this  we  will  give  a 
remarkable  proof.  The  Prince  Sougorsky,  sent  on  a  mission  to  the 
Emperor  Maximilian  in  1576,  fell  sick  while  he  was  crossing  Courland. 
From  respect  to  the  Tsar,  the  Duke  frequently  inquired  after  the  health 
of  the  ambassador  by  his  own  minister,  who  heard  him  constantly 
repeat — '  My  health  is  nothing,  if  only  that  of  our  sovereign  continues 
good.'  The  minister,  astonished,  asked  him — '  How  can  you  serve  a 
tyrant  with  so  much  zeal?'  'We  Russians,' said  Prince  Sougorsky, 
'  are  always  devoted  to  our  tsars  whether  they  are  good  or  cruel. ' 
And  as  a  proof  of  what  he  affirmed,  the  sick  man  recounted  that,  some 
time  before,  Ivan  had  caused  one  of  his  noblemen  to  be  impaled  for  a 
slight  fault,  and  that  this  unfortunate  man  had  lived  twenty-four  hours 
in  terrific  agonies,  conversing  from  time  to  time  with  his  wife  and 
children,  and  ceaselessly  repeating,  '  Great  God,  protect  the  Tsar  ! '  " 
— Karamsin. 

' '  Ivan  was  a  goodlie  man  of  person  and  presence,  well-favoured, 
high-forehead,  shrill  voice,  a  right  Sithian,  full  of  reaclie  wisdom, 
cruel,  bloudye,  merciless  ;  his  own  experience  managed  by  direction 
both  his  state  and  commonwealth  affares.  He  was  sumptuously 
interred  in  Michell  Archangell  Church,  where  he,  though  guarded  day 
and  night,  remaines  a  fearfull  spectacle  to  the  memorie  of  such  as  pass 
by  or  hear  his  name  spoken  of,  who  are  entreated  to  cross  and  bless 
themselves  from  his  resurrection  again." — Sir  Jerome  Horsey,  Ambas- 
sador, MS.  in  Brit.  Mus. 

An  old*  Russian  song  describes  the  burial  of  Ivan — 

Ah  !  thou  bright  moon  ;  father !  moon, 
Why  dost  thou  not  shine  as  of  old  time  ? 

I  "  Moon  "  in  Russia  is  masculine. 


CATHEDRAL  OF  THE  ARCHANGEL.      195 

Not  as  of  old  time,  as  before  ? 

Why  art  thou  hidden  by  a  dark  cloud  ? 

It  happened  to  us  in  holy  Russia — 

In  holy  Russia — in  Moscow,  the  stone-built — 

In  Moscow,  the  stone-built,  in  the  golden  Kremlin. 

At  the  Ouspenski  Cathedral 

Of  Michael  the  Archangel 

They  beat  upon  the  great  bell — 

They  gave  forth  a  sound  over  the  whole  damp  mother  earth. 

All  the  princes — the  boyars  came  together, 

All  the  warrior  people  assembled, 

To  pray  to  God  in  the  Ouspenski  Cathedral. 

There  was  a  new  coffin  made  of  cypress  wood  : 

In  the  coffin  lies  the  orthodox  Tsar— 

The  orthodox  Tsar,  Ivan  Vassilivitch  the  Terrible. 

At  his  head  lies  the  life-giving  cross  ; 

By  the  cross  lies  the  imperial  crown  ; 

At  his  feet  lies  the  terrible  sword  ; 

Around  the  coffin  burn  the  holy  lights  ; 

In  front  of  the  coffin  stand  all  the  priests  and  patriarchs  ; 

They  read,  they  pray,  they  repeat  the  valediction  to  the  dead, 

To  our  orthodox  Tsar — 

Our  Tsar  Ivan  Vassilivitch  the  Terrible. 

Trans,  in  Morfilts  "Russia" 

Near  Ivan  lies  his  second  son  and  successor  Feodor 
(Theodore)  Ivanovitch  (1584-98),  a  weak,  though  religious 
prince,  so  incapable  as  to  be  entirely  ruled  by  the  brother 
of  his  beautiful  wife  Irene,  the  Boyar  Boris  Godunof,  who 
became  his  successor.  In  spite  of  his  failings,  his  death 
was  lamented  with  anguish,  because  in  his  person  the 
male  line  of  the  house  of  Ruric  came  to  an  end  after  a  rule 
of  more  than  seven  hundred  years. 

"  As  the  grave  was  opened  to  place  the  coffin  of  Feodor  by  that  of 
Ivan,  the  people  expressed  aloud  their  gratitude  to  the  dead,  for  the 
happiness  enjoyed  through  his  reign,  praising  with  tears  the  personal 
virtues  of  this  angel  of  sweetness,  which  he  had  received  as  a  heritage 
from  his  mother  Anastasia,  of  eternal  memory.  They  did  not  speak 
of  Feodor  as  a  Tsar,  but  as  a  tender  father,  and  in  the  reality  of  their 
sorrow,  they  forgot  the  weakness  of  his  character.  When  the  corpse 
was  lowered  into  the  grave,  the  Patriarch  and  all  the  people,  lifting  up 
their  hands  to  heaven,  besought  the  Most  High  that  He  would  pre- 
serve Russia  and  take  them  under  his  protection." — Karamsin*  ix. 

But  the  devotion  paid  to  all  the  relics  of  Virgin  or 
saints  in  this  church  pales  before  that  which  is  given  to 


1 96  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

the  tomb  of  a  child  of  nine  years  old,  Dmitri,  youngest 
son  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  by  his  seventh  wife,  the  last 
descendant  of  St.  Vladimir,  of  Monomachus,  of  the  Ivans 
and  Georges,  who  is  believed  to  have  been  murdered  at 
Uglitch  by  order  of  Boris  Godunof,  and  who,  had  he 
lived,  would  have  been  the  natural  successor  of  Feodor. 
In  this  country  it  is  rightly  said  that  the  Russian  religion 
is  far  more  regarded  than  the  Christian.  "  Whence  art 
thou  that  thou  knowest  not  the  tomb  of  St.  Dmitri  ? " 
characteristically  exclaimed  an  indignant  priest  to  Clarke 
the  traveler. 

The  murder  of  Dmitri  shocked  Russia  more  than  all 
the  cruelties  of  his  father.  Many  innocent  Russian 
princes  had  been  put  to  death  before,  but  it  was  by  order 
of  the  Tsar  ;  in  the  case  of  Dmitri  a  simple  boyar  had 
sacrificed  to  his  ambition  the  son  of  his  benefactor,  the 
only  remaining  descendant  of  the  founders  of  Russia. 

' '  A  tender  mother  watched  over  Dmitri  ;  warned  by  secret  friends, 
or  by  her  own  heart,  she  redoubled  her  care  for  the  child  of  her  heart. 
She  never  left  him  by  day  or  night  ;  she  never  quitted  his  chamber 
except  to  go  to  church  ;  she,  and  she  alone,  prepared  his  food,  and 
would  not  entrust  him,  either  to  the  treacherous  Volokhoff,  his  gov- 
erness, or  to  his  devoted  nurse  Irene.  A  considerable  time  elapsed, 
after  which  the  assassins,  despairing  of  being  able  to  commit  their 
crime  in  secret,  resolved  to  carry  it  out  openly,  in  the  hope  that  the 
powerful  and  crafty  Godunof,  to  save  his  honor,  would  find  a  means 
of  concealing  the  act  from  the  eyes  of  his  dumb  slaves,  for  they  only 
thought  of  men  and  not  of  God  !  On  the  fifteenth  of  May,  a  Satur- 
day, at  the  sixth  hour  of  the  day,  the  Tsaritsa  came  back  from  church 
with  her  son,  and  was  preparing  for  dinner.  Her  brothers  were  away 
from  the  palace,  and  the  servants  were  occupied  with  their  domestic 
duties.  At  that  moment  the  governess  Volokhoff  called  to  Dmitri  to 
take  him  out  for  a  walk  in  the  court  ;  the  Tsaritsa  wished  to  follow, 
but  unfortunately  her  attention  was  called  off,  and  she  lingered.  The 
nurse  wished  to  prevent  the  Tsarevitch  from  going  out,  though  from 
no  reason  which  she  could  account  for,  but  the  governess  drew  him 
forcibly  into  the  vestibule,  and  thence,  upon  the  staircase,  where  they 
were  met  by  Joseph  Volokhoff,  Daniel  Bitiagofsky,  and  Katchatoff. 
The  first  of  these,  taking  Dmitri  by  the  hand,  said,  '  Sire,  you  have  a 
new  collar  on.'  The  child,  raising  his  head  with  an  innocent  smile, 
said,  '  No,  it  is  an  old  one. '  At  that  moment  the  knife  of  the  assassin 
struck  him,  but,  while  only  slightly  wounded  in  the  throat,  he  slipped 
from  the  hands  of  Volokhoff.  The  nurse  then  raised  piercing  out- 
cries, clasping  her  infant  sovereign  in  her  arms.  Volokhoff  took 
flight.  But  Daniel  Bitiagofsky  and  Katchatoff  snatched  the  Tsare- 
vitch from  his  nurse,  stabbed  him,  and  threw  him  down  the  staircase, 
at  the  very  moment  when  the  Tsaritsa  made  her  appearance,  coming 


CATHEDRAL  OF  THE  ARCHANGEL.      197 

from  the  vestibule.  The  young  martyr,  of  nine  years  old,  already  lay 
bleeding  in  the  arms  of  his  nurse,  who  had  tried  to  defend  him  at  the 
risk  of  her  life.  '  He  palpitated  like  a  dove,'  and  breathed  his  last 
without  hearing  the  cries  of  his  frantic  mother.  The  nurse  pointed 
out  with  her  finger  the  wicked  governess,  trembling  at  the  crime,  as 
well  as  the  assassins  who  were  crossing  the  court.  No  one  was  then 
at  hand  to  arrest  them,  but  the  Divine  Avenger  was  present." — 
Karamsin.  r-. 

"Within  the  Church  of  the  Archangel,  amidst  the  tombs  of  the 
tsars,  the  one  coffin  glittering  with  jewels  and  gold  is  that  of  the  young 
child  Demetrius,  whose  death  or  martyrdom  was  lamented  with  an 
everlasting  lamentation,  as  the  cause  of  the  convulsions  which  followed 
upon  it." — Stanley. 

The  early  sovereigns  of  the  house  of  Romanoff,  under 
whom  the  wounds  of  the  kingdom  caused  by  the  usurpers 
(who  succeeded  Feodor  and  Boris  Godunof)  were  healed, 
all  lie  in  the  body  of  the  church,  between  the  pillars.1 
Of  these  the  first  was  Michael  Feodorovitch  (1613-1645), 
who  owed  his  election  in  his  seventeenth  year  partly  to 
the  reputation  for  ability  and  virtue  of  his  father,  the 
patriarch  Philaret,2  who  was  then  in  a  Polish  prison,  and 
partly  to  his  bearing  the  name  of  Romanoff,  a  family 
allied,  by  his  first  marriage,  to  Ivan  IV.,  which  at  that 
time  expressed  the  essence  of  the  national  sentiment.3 
When  the  deputies  came  to  the  young  Michael  at  Kos- 
troma announcing  his  election,  he  burst  into  tears  and 
refused  to  accept  it,  but  yielding  afterwards  to  impor- 
tunity, he  reigned  prosperously  for  twenty-three  years, 
owing  much  to  the  guidance  of  his  father,  who  was 
released  and  returned  to  Moscow  in  1618. 

Next  to  Michael  lies  Alexis  Michailovitch  (1645-1676), 
his  son  by  Eudoxia  Strechnef,  admirable  as  well  for  his 
virtues  as  for  his  institutions  and  for  the  discipline  which 
he  introduced  into  the  army.  His  people  called  him  "  the 
most  debonair."  He  introduced  shipbuilders  from  Am- 
sterdam and  made  vessels  for  the  Caspian.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  "  the  new  Caesar  of 

i  The  Tsar  Boris  Godunof  and  the  two  usurpers  who  followed  him  lie  away. 
Godunof,  who  is  now  looked  upon  as  the  originator  of  serfdom,  was  cast  out  of  the 
Church  by  the  false  Dmitri,  and  now  rests  at  the  Troitsa  ;  the  body  of  Dmitri  was 
dragged  to  the  place  called  "  Kettles,"  seven  versts  from  Moscow,  on  the  Serpou- 
koff  road,  where  it  was  burned  and  his  ashes  thrown  to  the  four  winds.  For  Shu- 
iski  (elected  Tsar  as  Vassili  V.  May  10,  1606,  who  abdicated  peacefully,  and  died  a 
monk  at  Warsaw)  a  little  chapel  was  erected,  and  a  tomb  on  which  he  is  styled 
Knas  and  Tsar,  but  not  Velikoi  Knas,  or  Grand-Duke. 

z  Martha,  mother  of  Alexis,  was  afterwards  a  nun  in  a  convent  at  Kostroma. 

3  See  Rambaud,  Hist,  de  la  Russic. 


198  S  TUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

the  Empire  of  Orthodoxy,"  as  he  was  addressed  by  the 
German  emperor,  was  troubled  by  his  disputes  with 
the  Patriarch  Nikon,  under  whom  the  Russian  Church 
was  rising  to  the  powerful  position  it  has  since  occupied  ; 
yet  it  was  the  Tsar  Alexis  who  traced  all  the  outlines  which 
were  filled  in  later  by  his  illustrious  son  Peter  the  Great. 

"  Si  Alexis  ne  fit  pas  la  reforme,  son  regne  en  fut  la  preparation." 
— Rambaud. 

More  than  any  other  sovereign  of  the  Romanoff  dynasty, 
Alexis  was  devoted  to  the  practices  of  religion. 

"  Doctor  Collins,  an  Englishman,  who  was  physician  to  the  Tsar 
Alexis  for  nine  years,  says,  that  during  Lent  he  would  stand  in  the 
church  for  five  or  six  hours  at  a  time,  and  make  as  many  as  a 
thousand  prostrations — on  great  holidays  even  fifteen  hundred." — 
Eugene  Schuyler. 

By  his  first  wife,  Marie  Ilinitchna  Miloslavski,  Alexis  had 
thirteen  children,  four  sons  and  nine  daughters  ;  by  his 
second  wife,  Natalia  Naryskin,  a  son  and  a  daughter. 
The  two  sons  of  his  first  marriage  who  lived  to  grow  up, 
Feodor  and  Ivan,  rest  opposite  to  him.  Of  these,  Feodor 
Alexievitch  (1676-1682),  who  succeeded  to  the  throne, 
ruled  under  the  guidance  of  Sophia,  one  of  his  sisters, 
and  became  chiefly  remarkable  as  the  founder  of  the  first 
Academy  in  Moscow  for  lectures  in  Greek  and  Latin, 
philosophy  and  theology.  Ivan,  who  suffered  from  epi- 
lepsy, and  was  rather  blind,  rather  lame,  and  half-idiotic, 
was  afterward  nominally  united  with  his  healthy,  brill- 
iant, and  precocious  half-brother  Peter  in  the  sovereignty, 
but  remained  a  mere  state  puppet  ;  he  became,  how- 
ever, the  father,  by  Praskovia  Soltikoff,  of  the  Empress 
Anne.  Since  the  death  of  Ivan  all  the  Russian  sove- 
reigns have  been  buried  at  St.  Petersburg,  except  Peter. 
II.  (1727-1730),  who  lies  here.  He  was  the  son  of  Alexis 
Petrovitch,  the  unfortunate  son  of  Peter  the  Great  by 
his  first  marriage,  was  born  in  1715,  and  succeeded  his 
step-grandmother,  Catherine  I.,  in  1727.  When  he  was 
only  fifteen,  he  died  of  the  small-pox,  on  the  day  which 
had  been  appointed  for  his  marriage  with  Princess  Cath- 
erine Dolgorouki.1  His  last  words  were,  "  Get  ready  the 

i  Catherine  Dolgorouki,  torn  from  her  former  fiance,  was  betrothed  against  her 
will  to  Peter  II.  Upon  his  death  she  became  a  momentary  sovereign,  was  impris- 


TOWER  OF  IVAN  VELIKI.  199 

sledge  ;  I  want  to  go  to  my  sister  "  (Natalia,  who  had 
died  three  years  before).  In  this  prince  the  direct  male 
line  of  the  house  of  Romanoff  became  extinct,  and  the 
elder  period  of  Russian  history  came  to  an  end. 

One  of  the  most  striking  services  held  in  this  cathedral 
is  that  for  the  repose  of  the  Great  Princes  and  Tsars  who 
are  buried  here. 

"  I  saw  the  Metropolitan  Philaret  on  the  festival  of  the  beheading 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist — the  day  of  the  funeral  services  of  the  dead 
tsars — celebrated  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Michael,  where  they  all  lie 
interred.  Philaret  and  his  clergy  were  there  in  deep  black  mourning, 
and  one  by  one  the  departed  sovereigns  were  named,  with  a  prayer 
for  'the  pardon  of  their  sins,  voluntary  and  involuntary,  known  to  them- 
selves or  unknown.'  There  was  a  hope  left  even  for  Ivan  the  Terrible. 
The  Metropolitan  was  lifted  up  to  kiss  the  coffins  of  the  two  canonized 
princes — the  murdered  Demetrius,  and  Chernikoff,  the  champion  of 
Russia,  slain  in  the  Tartar  wars  :  a  striking  contrast  to  watch  the 
aged,  tottering  man  at  the  tomb  of  the  little  blooming  child — the 
gentle,  peaceful  prelate  at  the  tomb  of  the  fierce,  blood-stained  war- 
rior."— Stanley,  "Essays  on  Church  and  State." 

On  leaving  the  cathedrals,  many  travelers  will  ascend 
the  great  Tower  of  Ivan  Veliki,  which  was  built  by  the 
usurper  Boris  Godunof  in  1600,  to  commemorate  the 
deliverance  of  Russia  from  a  famine. 

"  The  name  of  John  (Ivan)  is  a  symbolic  name  with  the  Russians, 
as  with  most  other  nations  ;  it  denotes  nationality,  the  people's  char- 
acter, their  chief  tendencies  and  inclinations,  and,  above  all,  the 
national  vogue  or  way.  As  in  German  the  '  Hanschen,'  the  '  Hans- 
wurst ; '  in  French  the  '  Jean  Potage  ; '  in  English  '  John  Bull,'  so 
is  the  Russian  '  Ivan  Ivanovitch  '  the  national,  good-natured,  phleg- 
matic, roguish  fool.  The  Russians  denominate  every  body  thus  whose 
name  they  do  not  know,  and  whom  they  wish  to  turn  into  ridicule  ; 
even  the  Tsar  Ivan  Vasilievitch  the  Terrible  is,  in  the  popular  tradi- 
tion, altogether  good-natured,  completely  resembling  the  '  bon  roi 
Dagobert,'  of  the  French  popular  song.  He  says  to  his  head  attend- 
ant, his  chief  chamberlain,  who  like  a  good  Russian,  is  lolling  upon 
the  stove,  '  Ivan  Ivanovitch,  come  down  and  pull  my  boots  off  ! ' 
Ivan  Ivanovitch,  however,  has  no  inclination  to  do  so,  but  lies  still, 
merely  raising  his  left  leg  like  a  post  in  the  air,  and  slapping  with  his 
hand  upon  the  stove,  says — '  Stove,  I  order  you  to  carry  me  to  the 
Tsar  ! ' 

"  '  Tsar.     But,  Ivan  Ivanovitch,  the  stove  does  not  obey  you.' 

' '  '  Ivan.     That  is  unfortunate,  O  Tsar,  then  come  to  me,'  etc. 

"  An  isvoshtnik,  on  seeing  for  the  first  time  the  train  with  the  loco- 

oned  through  the  reign  of  Anne,  released  by  Elizabeth,  and  eventually  married 
Cou.nl  Bruce., 


200  S TUDIE S  IN  R  ( rSSIA . 

motive  on  the  railway  from  Tsarskoe  Selo,  exclaimed,  '  Look,  look, 
there  is  an  Ivan  Ivanovitch  riding  on  his  stove  to  the  Tsar  ! '  Every 
body  who  looks  awkward  and  stupid,  and  also  every  isvoshtnik,  is 
called  '  Ivan,"  or  with  the  diminutive,  '  Vanka.' '' — Haxthausen,  "  The 
Russian  Empire." 

Though  this  is  the  finest  belfry  in  Russia,  it  has  no 
special  beauty,  but  being  269  feet  high,  towers  finely 
above  all  the  other  buildings  of  the  Kremlin  in  the  dis- 
tant views.  Halfway  up  is  a  gallery,  whence  the  sover- 
eigns from  Boris  to  Peter  the  Great  used  to  harangue 
the  people.  The  exquisite  bells  are  only  heard  in  perfec- 
tion on  Easter  Eve  at  midnight.  On  the  preceding  Sun- 
day (Palm  Sunday)  the  people  have  resorted  in  crowds 
to  the  Kremlin  to  buy  palm  branches — artificial  flowers 
and  bows  with  waxen  fruits — to  hang  before  their  icons. 
On  Holy  Thursday  the  Metropolitan  has  washed  the  feet 
of  twelve  men,  representing  the  Apostles,  in  the  cathe- 
dral, using  the  dialogue  recorded  in  John  xii.1  Then  at 
midnight  on  Easter  Eve  the  great  bell  sounds,  followed 
by  every  other  bell  in  Moscow  :  the  whole  city  blazes 
into  light  ;  the  tower  of  Ivan  Veliki  is  illuminated  from 
its  foundation  to  the  cross  on  its  summit.  The  square 
below  is  filled  with  a  motley  throng,  and  around  the 
churches  are  piles  of  Easter  cakes,  each  with  a  taper 
stuck  in  it,  waiting  for  a  blessing.  The  interior  of  the 
church  of  the  Rest  of  the  Virgin  is  thronged  by  a  vast 
multitude  bearing  wax  tapers.  The  Metropolitan  and 
his  clergy,  in  robes  blazing  with  gold  and  precious  stones, 
have  made  the  external  circuit  of  the  church  three  times, 
and  then,  through  the  great  doors,  have  advanced  toward 
the  throne  between  myriads  of  lights.  No  words  can 
describe  the  color,  the  blaze,  the  roar  of  the  universal 
chant.  Descending  from  the  throne,  the  Metropolitan 
has  incensed  the  clergy  and  the  people,  and  the  clergy 
have  incensed  the  Metropolitan,  while  the  spectators 
have  bowed  and  crossed  themselves  incessantly.  After 
a  service  of  two  hours,  the  Metropolitan  has  advanced, 
holding  a  cross  which  the  people  have  thronged  to  kiss. 
He  has  then  retired  behind  the  sanctuary,  whence  as 
Ivan  Veliki  begins  to  toll,  followed  by  a  peal  from  a 

i  The  service  of  humility  and  brotherly  love,  called  the  Lavipedium,  has  been 
ascribed  to  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  in  the  sixth  century,  but  it  is  evident  from 
Ambrose,  Augustine,  and.  others  that  it  existed  in  the  Church  long  before  his  time. 


TOWER  OF  IVAN  VELIKI.  20 1 

thousand  bells  announcing  the  stroke  of  midnight,  he 
emerges  in  a  plain  purple  robe,  and  announces  "  Christos 
voscres  !  "  Christ  is  risen.  Then  kisses  of  love  are  uni- 
versally exchanged,  and,  most  of  all,  the  Metropolitan, 
on  his  hands  and  knees,  crawls  around  the  church,  kiss- 
ing the  icons  on  the  walls,  the  altars  and  the  tombs,  and, 
through  their  then  opened  sepulchers,  the  incorruptible 
bodies  of  the  saints.  After  this  no  meetings  take  place 
without  the  salutation  Christos  voscres,  and  the  answer, 
Vo  istine  voscres  (He  is  risen). 

Of  the  many  bells  in  the  tower  the  most  remarkable 
was  the  historic  bell  of  Novogorod,  which  summoned 
the  council  of  the  Vetche  to  assemble,  and  which  was 
carried  off  to  Moscow  by  Ivan  the  Great  :  it  is  now  said 
to  be  lost.  The  square  at  the  foot  of  the  tower,  and  the 
pavement  between  it  and  the  cathedral,  is  still  used  at 
Easter  as  a  place  of  assembly  for  religious  disputations. 

' '  From  ancient  times  it  has  been  the  custom  in  Moscow  for  the 
people  to  assemble  in  large  numbers  every  morning  during  the  week 
after  Easter  in  the  Kremlin,  in  the  square  before  the  Uspenski  Sobor, 
to  hold  religious  disputations.  The  people  alone  are  present  ;  neither 
the  clergy,  officials,  or  nobles  share  in  the  proceedings.  The  police 
take  no  notice  of  these  meetings,  and  are  never  seen  at  them  :  indeed, 
their  presence  is  quite  uncalled  for,  as  the  utmost  quiet  and  order  pre- 
vail, and  no  excesses  ever  occur  ;  and  the  people  themselves  maintain 
order,  and  even  punish  any  word  spoken  too  loudly. 

"  On  one  side  assemble  the  followers  of  the  Orthodox  Church,  and 
opposite  to  them  the  Raskolniks  of  all  sects,  especially  the  Stanovertzi, 
of  every  different  shade.  Various  groups  are  formed,  in  each  of  which 
disputants  are  found,  who  defend  or  attack  some  religious  proposition. 
The  discussion  is  carried  on  with  the  greatest  courtesy  and  harmony  ; 
the  disputants  take  off  their  hats,  bow  low  to  their  opponents,  and  beg 
to  be  allowed  to  answer  their  positions  or  questions.  No  one  inter- 
rupts another  during  his  speech.  The  discussion  is,  at  the  same  time, 
carried  on  with  the  greatest  logical  acuteness  ;  if  one  stops  short,  or 
can  go  no  further,  another  of  those  standing  behind  steps  forward  to 
assist  him,  or  to  continue  the  discussion  himself.  If  any  one  grows 
violent,  or  exclaims  loudly,  or  even  only  say,  '  That  is  false,'  his 
friends  immediately  caution  him,  saying,  '  Pashla  na  dai  niet'  (yes' 
and  no  prove  nothing),  and  if  he  does  not  become  quiet  they  draw 
him  back  into  the  crowd." — Haxthausen,  "  The  Rtissian  Empire" 

Behind  the  cathedral  rises  the  mass  of  the  Great  Pal- 
ace, Bolshbi  Dvorets,  of  which  the  older  part  Granovitaia 
Palata  (the  Grand  Palace),  was  built  (probably  by  the 
Italian  Antonio)  for  Ivan  the  Great.  The  rest  of  the 


202  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

abode  of  the  ancient  Grand-Princes  has  been  often 
rebuilt  and  the  modern  part  of  the  edifice  as  it  exists  now 
only  dates  from  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas.  The 
most  remarkable  part  of  the  group,  on  the  side  facing  the 
cathedral,  is  the  many-domed  sacristy,  by  the  side  of 
which  is  the  famous  Red  Staircase,  leading  to  the  Hall  of 
St.  Vladimir,  and  connected  with  so  many  terrible  scenes 
in  Russian  history. 

"  The  dreadful  moment  that  his  own  conscience  and  innocent  mar- 
tyrs had  long  predicted,  was  silently  approaching  for  Ivan  the  Terri- 
ble, although  the  prince  had  attained  no  great  age,  and  though  he 
preserved,  together  with  his  mental  power,  all  the  violence  of  his  pas- 
sions. He  enjoyed  robust  health,  and  believed  that  he  might  live 
many  years  longer,  but  what  constitution  can  resist  the  unbridled  pas- 
sions which  agitate  the  dark  existence  of  a  tyrant  ?  The  continual 
frenzy  of  rage  and  fear,  remorse  without  repentance,  the  torments  of 
shame,  powerless  fury  at  defeat,  finally,  the  gnawing  worm  of  infanti- 
cide— a  torment  which  anticipated  those  of  hell — had,  for  Ivan,  passed 
the  limit  of  human  endurance.  He  often  experienced  a  painful  faint- 
ness,  which  seemed  to  prelude  dissolution,  but  he  contended  against 
it,  and  his  health  only  began  to  break  up  in  the  year  1584.  It  was 
then  that  a  comet  appeared,  of  which  the  tail  bore  the  form  of  a  cross. 
Having  come  on  the  Red  Staircase  to  see  it,  the  Tsar  watched  it  for  a 
long  time,  and  said  to  those  who  were  near  him,  *  It  is  the  warning  of 
my  death  ! '  .  .  .  Soon  afterward  Ivan  was  attacked  by  alarming 
illness.  His  entrails  began  to  putrify  and  his  body  swelled. " — Karam- 
sin. 

On  the  same  staircase,  when  the  false  Dmitri  had 
gained  possession  of  Moscow,  the  bodies  of  the  young 
Tsar  Feodor  Borisvitch  and  his  mother,  the  Tsaritsa 
Maria,  widow  of  Boris  Godunof,  murderer  of  the  true 
Dmitri),  were  exposed  to  the  people. 

"  The  young  Feodor,  with  his  mother  Marie  and  his  sister  Xenie, 
guarded  in  the  very  palace  whither  the  ambition  of  Boris  had  dragged 
them  as  the  theater  of  a  fatal  grandeur,  had  a  presentiment  of  their 
fate.  The  people  still  respected  the  sanctity  of  sovereign  rank  in  their 
persons,  and  perhaps  that  of  innocence  ;  perhaps  even,  till  the  climax 
of  the  rebellion,  they  would  have  wished  that  Dmitri  should  show  mercy, 
and  that,  while  seizing  the  crown,  he  should  at  least  spare  life  to  these 
unhappy  ones,  were  it  only  in  the  solitude  of  some  isolated  cloister. 
But,  on  this  occasion,  clemency  did  not  enter  into  the  policy  of  the 
false  Dmitri.  The  more  the  legitimate  Tsar,  whom  he  had  just  de- 
throned, displayed  of  personal  qualities,  the  more  he  appeared  danger- 
ous to  a  usurper,  who  had  reached  the  throne  by  the  crime  of  a  few 
and  the  errors  of  many.  The  triumph  of  one  treason  always  paves  the 
way  for  another,  and  no  solitude  would  have  concealed  the  young 


THE  RED  STAIRCASE.  2OJ 

sovereign  from  the  pity  of  the  Russians.  Such  was  without  doubt 
the  opinion  of  Basanoff ,  but  he  would  not  openly  participate  in  a 
horrible  crime.  Others  were  bolder :  the  princes  Galitzin  and  Mas- 
salsky,  the  dignitaries  Moltchanoff  and  She'refedinoff,  having  taken 
three  fierce  strelitz  with  them,  went  on  the  tenth  of  June  (1605)  to  the 
house  of  Boris,  where  they  found  Feodor  and  Xenie,  quietly  awaiting  the 
will  of  God  by  the  side  of  their  mother.  They  snatched  these  tender 
children  from  the  arms  of  the  Tsaritsa,  made  them  enter  separate 
rooms,  and  bade  the  strelitz  do  their  work.  These  at  once  strangled 
the  Tsaritsa  Marie,  but  the  young  Feodor,  endowed  with  extraordi- 
nary strength  by  nature,  contended  for  a  long  time  with  four  assas- 
sins, who  with  difficulty  succeeded  in  suffocating  him  at  last.  Xenie 
was  more  unfortunate  than  her  brother  and  mother  ;  they  left  her  her 
life.  The  usurper  had  heard  of  her  charms  ;  he  ordered  Prince  Mas- 
salsky  to  remove  her  to  his  house.  It  was  announced  in  Moscow 
that  Marie  and  her  son  had  poisoned  themselves.  But  their  bodies, 
savagely  exposed  to  insult  and  outrage,  bore  the  certain  evidence  of 
their  violent  death.  The  people  pressed  around  the  miserable  coffins 
in  which  the  two  crowned  victims  were  placed,  the  wife  and  son  of 
the  ambitious  man  who  was  at  once  their  adorer  and  destroyer,  giving 
them  in  the  throne  a  heritage  of  horror  and  the  most  cruel  of  deaths. 
'  The  sacred  blood  of  Dmitri/ say  the  annalists,  'demanded  pure 
blood  in  expiation  :  and  the  innocent  fell  for  the  guilty.  Let  the 
wicked  tremble  for  their  dear  ones  :  the  moment  of  vengeance  and 
reprisals  must  come  sooner  or  later."  " — Karamsin.1 

"The  young  Tsar  and  his  unhappy  mother  were  smothered  by 
murderers  like  those  who  had  been  employed  to  make  away  with 
Dmitri ;  for  the  Lord  sometimes  visits  the  sins  of  the  father  on  the 
children. " — Mouravieff. 

In  accordance  with  an  old  Russian  proverb — 

Koli  khud  knyaz 
Tak  y  gryaz — 

"  If  the  prince  is  bad,  into  the  mud  with  him  " — it  was 
down  this  staircase  also  that  the  body  of  Gregori  Otrepieff, 
the  false  Dmitri,  was  thrown  to  the  fury  of  the  people, 
when  he  had  been  denounced  as  a  usurper  by  the  Tsaritsa 
Marpha  (who  had  previously  been  forced -to  acknowledge 
him  as  the  son  whom  she  had  seen  murdered  at  Uglitch.) 

"  It  is  asserted  that  when  the  usurper  was  asked,  'Who  are  you, 
wicked  one?'  he  still  answered,  '  You  know  it.  I  am  Dmitri,' and 
he  referred  to  the  religious  Tsaritsa.  Prince  Ivan  Galitzan  replied  to 
him  :  '  Her  testimony  is  already  known  to  us  ;  she  gives  you  up  to 
death.'  The  false  Dmitri  answered,  '  Take  me  to  the  great  square, 
there  I  will  confess  the  truth  in  the  presence  of  all.'  But  at  this 

i  This  story  is  the  subject  of  the  last  act  of  Pouchkine's  famous  drama,  Boris 
Godunof.  For  the  story  of  Boris  Godunof  see  also  the  tragedy  of  the  Tsar  Boris, 
by  Count  Alexis  Tolstoi.  1869. 


204  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

moment  the  impatient  people,  bursting  open  the  door,  demanded  if 
the  criminal  confessed  ;  they  were  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and 
two  shots  from  a  pistol  terminated  at  once  the  inquiry  and  the  life  of 
Otrepieff.  The  crowd  fell  upon  the  body,  hacked  it,  pierced  it  with 
their  lances,  and  hurled  it  to  the  bottom  of  the  staircase  upon  the 
body  of  his  adherent  Basanoff,  crying,  '  You  were  friends  in  this 
world,  be  equally  inseparable  in  hell.'  The  enraged  populace  then 
tore  the  corpses  from  the  Kremlin,  and  dragged  them  to  the  place  of 
execution  :  the  body  of  the  impostor  was  placed  upon  a  table,  with  a 
mask,  a  flute,  and  a  bagpipe,  viz. ,  as  signs  of  his  taste  for  sensuous 
pleasures  and  for  music  ;  and  that  of  Basanoff  upon  a  stool,  at  the 
feet  of  the  false  Dmitri." — Karamsin, 

The  Red  Staircase  witnessed  an  almost  more  terrible 
scene  during  the  disturbances  which  followed  the  death 
of  Feodor  Alexievitch  in  1682.  The  power  had  been 
disputed  by  the  factions  who  represented  the  two  wives 
of  the  Emperor  Alexis,  Maria  Miloslavski,  mother  of 
Feodor  and  Ivan,  and  Natalia  Naryskin,  mother  of  Peter 
(the  Great).  From  the  depths  of  the  "  terem,"  the  intrigu- 
ing Tsarevna  Sophia  gave  her  important  support  to  the 
former,  and  by  circulating  a  report  that  her  brother  Ivan 
had  been  strangled  by  the  Naryskins,  roused  the  people 
of  Moscow  and  caused  the  tocsin  to  be  sounded  from  four 
hundred  churches  of  the  holy  city.  Upon  this  the  streltsi, 
followed  by  an  immense  multitude,  marched  upon  the 
Kremlin.  On  the  Red  Staircase  Natalia  showed  herself 
with  the  two  children,  Ivan  and  Peter,  and  the  Miloslav- 
ski would  have  failed  in  their  plans,  if  Prince  Dolgorouki 
from  the  windows  of  the  palace  had  not  burst  into  the 
most  violent  abuse  of  the  streltsi.  This  reawakened  their 
fury.  They  threw  themselves  upon  Dolgorouki  and 
hurled  him  down  the  staircase  to  be  caught  upon  the 
pikes  of  the  soldiers.  Under  the  eyes  of  the  Tsaritsa, 
they  murdered  her  adopted  father  Matveef,  the  minister 
of  Alexis,  and  then  rushed  through  the  palace,  extermin- 
ating all  that  fell  into  their  hands.  A  brother  of  the 
Tsaritsa,  Athanase  Naryskin,  was  thrown  from  the  window 
upon  the  points  of  the  lances.  Upon  the  following  day, 
the  scene  recommenced.  Her  father  Cyril,  and  her 
brother  Ivan,  were  torn  from  the  arms  of  the  Tsaritsa, 
the  one  to  be  tortured  and  cut  to  pieces  ;  the  other  to  be 
cruelly  maltreated,  shaven,  and  sent  into  a  monastery.1 

i  See  Rambaud,  Hist,  de  la  Russie. 


SACRISTY  OF  THE  PATRIARCHS.  205 

Finally,  seven  years  after,  in  1689,  it  was  from  the  top  of 
the  Red  Staircase  that  Peter  the  Great,  clad  in  his  robes 
of  state,  showed  himself  to  the  people  as  their  lawful 
ruler,  after  the  imprisonment  of  Sophia.1 

On  this  side  of  the  palace  was  the  place  where  the 
sovereigns  used  to  sit  to  receive  the  petitions  of  the  people. 
The  petition  was  placed  on  a  certain  stone  in  the  court 
below,  where  the  Tsar  could  see  it,  and  if  he  thought 
proper,  he  sent  for  it.  The  Sacristy,  once  of  the  Patri- 
archs— Patriarshaya  Riznitsa — now  of  the  Holy  Synody 
contains  a  vast  number  of  precious  robes  and  jewels  which 
belonged  to  the  Patriarchs,  the  most  interesting  being  the 
Saccos  of  the  Metropolitan  St.  Peter  (1308-1325),  a  robe 
sent  by  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople  to  the  Patriarch 
Joseph,  1642,  upon  which  the  Nicene  creed  is  embroidered 
in  pearls,  and  some  of  the  miters  and  robes  of  Nikon.  In 
an  adjoining  room  the  holy  chrism  or  mir  is  prepared, 
with  which  every  orthodox  Russian  is  anointed  at  bap- 
tism, all  sovereigns  at  coronation,  and  all  churches  at 
consecration.  This  holy  ointment  (probably  taken  from 
that  described  in  Exodus  xxx.,  for  the  anointing  of  the 
priests  and  tabernacle)  can  only  be  consecrated  by  a 
bishop,  only  on  one  day  in  the  year — Holy  Thursday  in 
Passion  week — and  only  in  two  places,  this  sacristy  for 
great  Russia,  and  Kieff  for  little  Russia,  from  which 
point  it  is  distributed  to  the  several  churches  in  each 
country.  The  ointment  is  a  mixture  of  roses,  oil  of  lav- 
ender, marjoram,  oranges,  rosemary,  balsam  of  Peru, 
cedar,  mastic  turpentine,  and  white  wine. 

' '  The  chrism  is  a  mystery  peculiar  to  the  Greek  Church.  It  is 
.  called  the  seal  of  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  immediately  follows 
the  immersion  at  baptism,  when  the  priest  anoints  the  person  baptized 
on  the  principal  parts  of  the  body  with  an  ointment,  consecrated  with 
many  curious  circumstances  for  that  purpose  by  a  bishop.  This  cere- 
mony is  always  used  at  the  reception  of  a  proselyte  from  any  other 
church  whatever.  The  Scriptures  on  which  this  mystery  is  said  to  be 
founded  are  Acts  viii.  Peter  and  John  '  when  they  were  come  down 
(i.  e.  to  the  Samaritans,  who  had  been  baptized  by  Philip),  prayed  for 
them  that  they  might  receive  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  as  yet  he  was  fallen 
upon  none  of  them,  only  they  were  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.'  And  also  I  John  i.  27,  Isaiah  Ixi.  6,  2  Cor.  i.  21,22,  Gal.  iii. 
I."— King. 

i  See  Schuyler's  Life  of  Peter  the  Great. 


206  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

In  \heLibrarycf  the  Patriarchs  is  preserved  the  famous 
copy  of  the  Evangelists  brought  by  Nikon  from  Mount 
Athos,  and  many  other  historic  books. 

"  Des  vengeances  du  7>m'£/<?nous  est  reste  un  tres-curieux  monu- 
ment :  c'est  le  synodique  de  monastere  de  Saint-Cyrille,  dans  lequel  il 
demande  nominativement  pour  chacune  de  ses  victimes  les  prieres  de 
1'Eglise.  Cette  liste  donneun  total  de  3,470  victimes,  dont  986  noms 
propres.  Plusieurs  des  noms  sont  suivis  de  cette  mention  sinistre  : 
'avec  sa  femme,'  '  avec  sa  femme  et  ses  enfants,'  '  avec  ses  filles,' 
'  avec  ses  fils.'  C'est  ce  que  Kourbski  appelait  '  des  exterminations 
par  families  entieres,'  usiorodno.  La  constitution  de  la  famille  russe 
etait  si  forte  a  cette  epoque  que  la  mort  du  chef  devait  fatalement 
entrainer  celle  de  tous  les  siens.  D'autres  indications  collectives  ne 
donnent  pas  moins  a  penser.  Par  exemple  :  '  Kazarine  Doubrovski 
et  ses  deux  fils,  plus  dix  homines  qui  etaient  venus  a  son  secours,' — 
'vingt  hommes  du  village  de  Kolomenskoe,'  '  quatre-vingts  de 
Matveiche  :'  c'etaient  sans  doute  des  paysans  ou  les  enfants-boi'ars  qui 
avaient  voulu  defendre  leurs  seigneurs.  Voici  la  mention  relative  a 
Novogorod  :  '  Souviens-toi,  Seigneur,  des  ames  de  tes  serviteurs,  au 
nombre  de  1,505  personnes,  Novogorodiens.'  Louis  XI.  n'avait-il  pas 
des  tendresses  de  ce  genre  7  il  priait  avec  ferveur  pour  Tame  de  son 
frere,  le  due  de  Berry.  " — Rambaud,  "  Hist,  de  laRussie." 

Strangers  enter  the  main  building  of  the  palace  at  the 
entrance  opposite  the  terrace  toward  the  town.  The 
magnificent  Hall  of  St.  George,  the  Alexander  Hall,  and 
the  Hall  of  St.  Andrew  are  the  chief  features  of  the 
modern  building.  The  Chapel  of  the  Nativity  of  the 
Virgin  is  that  of  the  ancient  Grand-Princesses.  From  a 
gallery,  into  which  the  dismal  rooms  of  the  ladies-in-wait- 
ing open,  the  visitor  enters  the  Golden  Hall  or  Zolotaya 
Palata,  said  to  have  been  built  by  the  Patriarch  Jonah  in 

I451- 

Here  it  was  that  the  Patriarch  Jeremiah  of  Constanti- 
nople (1587)  had  his  minutely  described  interviews  with 
the  Tsar  Feodor,  son  of  Ivan  the  Terrible. 

"  In  the  beautiful  corner  of  the  Golden  Hall  of  the  Sign  Manual, 
on  a  magnificent  throne,  was  seated  the  religious  sovereign  himself, 
with  his  crown  on  his  head,  clad  in  royal  robes,  and  holding  a  richly 
carved  scepter  in  his  hand,  a  golden  orb,  figurative  of  the  universe, 
lying  by  his  side.  Around  him  stood  his  boyars,  the  lords  of  the  pres- 
ence-chamber, and  the  courtiers,  in  robes  covered  with  gold." 

It  was  probably  also  here,  as  being  the  Audience 
Chamber  of  the  Tsaritsa,  that  Ivan  and  Peter  the  Great 
gave  their  audiences  as  children. 


THE  PALACE.  207 

"  We  got  off  our  horses,  and  handing  our  swords  to  a  servant, 
walked  up  some  steps  and  passed  through  a  building  magnificent  with 
gilded  vaults,  and  then  through  an  open  stone  passage,  again  tothe 
left,  and  through  an  ante-room  to  the  audience  hall,  the  floor  of  which 
was  covered  with  Turkish  carpets,  where  we  came  to  the  '  piercing 
eyes'  of  their  Tsarish  majesties.  Both  their  majesties  sat,  not  in  the 
middle,  but  somewhat  to  the  right  side  of  the  hall,  next  to  the  middle 
column,  and  sat  on  a  silver  throne  like  a  bishop's  chair,  somewhat 
raised  and  covered  with  red  cloth,  as  was  most  of  the  hall.  Over  the 
throne  hung  a  holy  picture.  The  Tsars  wore,  over  their  coats,  robes 
of  silver  cloth  woven  with  red  and  white  flowers,  and,  instead  of 
scepters,  had  long  golden  staves  bent  at  the  end  like  bishops'  croziers, 
on  which,  as  on  the  breastplate  of  their  robes,  their  breasts  and  their 
caps,  glittered  white,  green,  and  other  precious  stones.  The  elder 
drew  his  cap  down  over  his  eyes  several  times,  and,  with  looks  cast 
down  on  the  floor,  sat  almost  immovable.  The  younger  had  a  frank 
and  open  face,  and  his  young  blood  rose  -to  his  cheeks  as  often  as  any 
one  spoke  to  him.  He  constantly  looked  about,  and  his  great  beauty 
and  his  lively  manner — which  sometimes  brought  the  Moscovite  mag- 
nates into  confusion — struck  all  of  us  so  much  that,  had  he  been  an 
ordinary  youth  and  no  imperial  personage,  we  would  gladly  have 
laughed  and  talked  with  him.  The  elder  was  seventeen,  the  younger 
sixteen  years  old.  When  the  Swedish  envoy  gave  his  letter  of  credence, 
both  Tsars  rose  from  their  places,  slightly  bared  their  heads,  and  asked 
after  the  king's  health,  but  Ivan,  the  elder,  somewhat  hindered  the 
proceedings  through  not  understanding  what  was  going  on,  and  gave 
his  hand  to  be  kissed  at  a  wrong  time.  Peter  was  so  eager  that  he  did 
not  give  the  secretaries  the  usual  time  for  raising  him  and  his  brother 
from  their  seats  and  touching  their  heads  ;  he  jumped  up  at  once,  put 
his  own  hand  to  his  hat,  and  began  quickly  to  ask  the  usual  question  : 
'  Is  his  Royal  Majesty,  Carolusof  Sweden,  in  good  health  ?  '  He  had 
to  be  pulled  back  until  his  elder  brother  had  a  chance  of  speaking.'  " — 
M£.  Diary  of  Engelbert  K amp  fen,  July,  168s.1 

A  curious  relic  of  the  self-association  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Tsarevna  Sophia  with  her  brothers  may  be 
seen  in  a  piece  of  plate  in  the  neighboring  chapel  of  St. 
Catherine,  made  <k  by  order  of  Ivan,  Peter,  and  Sophia, 
aristocrats  of  all  the  Russias."  This  is  one  of  a  very  inter- 
esting group  of  chapels,  of  which  the  most  remarkable  is 
that  of  the  Crucifixion,  built  by  the  Tsar  Alexis,  and  con- 
taining his  oratory. 

On  the  side  toward  the  cathedral,  the  window  is  still 
shown  where  Alexis  Michailovitch  sat  to  receive  petitions, 
and  also  the  window  whence  young  Athanase  Naryskin, 
uncle  of  Peter  the  Great,  was  thrown  down  upon  the 
pikes  of  the  streltsi.  From  the  windows  of  the  palace  on 

I  Given  in  Schuyler's  Peter  the  Great, 


208  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

the  other  side,  we  look  into  an  inner  court,  which  contains 
the  Church  of  the  Saviour  in  the  Wood — Spass  na  Boru — 
said  to  date  from  the  twelfth  century  when  it  was  built  in 
a  wood  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Kremlin,  long 
before  Moscow  was  a  city.  It  contains  the  relics  of  St. 
Stephen  of  Perm,  a  saint  greatly  honored  in  Russia. 

"  Great  Perm,  whither  the  hunters  of  Novogorod  went  for  their  furs, 
was  acquired  to  Russia  by  a  single  monk,  through  the  preaching  of 
the  name  of  Christ.  St.  Stephen,  penetrated  with  apostolic  zeal,  felt 
pained  by  the  gross  heathenism  of  the  inhabitants  of  Perm  ;  and  having 
thoroughly  known  their  tongue  from  a  child,  he  invented  letters  for  it. 
He  went  alone  to  preach  Christ  in  the  deep  and  silent  woods  of 
Perm,  and  by  faith  overcame  all  the  opposition  of  the  heathen  priests. 
He  founded  their  first  church,  a  poor  and  humble  building  on  the 
river  Viuma,  whence  the  doctrine  of  salvation  was  gradually  diffused. 
He  was  himself  consecrated  Bishop  of  Perm  by  the  hand  of  the 
Metropolitan  Pimen,  and,  after  many  years  of  labor,  died  in  Moscow, 
where  his  relics  are  still  preserved  in  the  Church  of  the  Saviour." — 
Mouravieff. 

In  the  Granitovitaya  Palata^  the  Banqueting  Hall, 
built  by  Ivan  the  Great,  was  used  for  audiences,  as  well 
as  for  banquets  by  his  successors. 

"  Les  murs  de  la  salle  etaient  tendus  de  magnifiques  tapisseries  ;  la 
vaisselle  d'or  et  d'argent,  aux  formes  fantastiques,  resplendissait  sur 
des  estrades  de  velours  :  le  Tsar,  couronne  en  tete,  sceptre  en  main, 
assis  sur  le  trone  de  Salomon,  dont  les  lions  mecaniques  faisaient 
entendre  des  rugissements,  entoure  de  ses  ryndis  en  longs  cafetans 
blancs  et  armes  de  la  grande  hache  d'argent,  de  ses  boi'ars  somptueuse- 
ment  vetus,  de  son  clerge  en  costume  severe,  recevait  des  letters  de 
creance." — Rambaud,  "  Hist,  de  la  Russie." 

Vassili  Ivanovitch  gave  banquets  of  great  magnificence 
here,  sending  messes,  as  Joseph  did,  from  his  own  table 
to  his  most  favored  guests,  when  they  rose  and  saluted 
him.  The  first  dish  always  consisted  of  roast  swans.1 
In  the  reign  of  his  successor,  Ivan  the  Terrible,  we  read — 

"  The  tables  were  covered  onely  with  salt  and  bread,  and  after  that 
we  had  sitten  a  while,  the  Emperour  sent  unto  every  one  of  us  a  piece 
of  bread,  which  were  given  and  delivered  unto  every  man  severally  by 
these  words  :  '  The  Emperour  and  Great  Duke  giveth  thee  bread  this 
day  ; '  and  in  like  manner  three  or  four  times  before  the  dinner  was 
ended,  he  sent  to  every  man  drinke,  which  was  given  by  these 
words  :  '  The  Emperour  and  Great  Duke  giveth  thee  to  drinke. '  All 
the  tables  aforesayd  were  served  in  vessels  of  pure  and  fine  golde,  as 

j  Karamsin,  vii. 


THE  PALACE.  209 

well  basons  and  ewers,  platters,  dishes,  and  sawcers,  as  also  of  great 
pots,  with  an  innumerable  sorte  of  small  drinking  pottes  of  divers 
fashions,  whereof  a  great  number  were  set  with  stone.  As  for  costly 
meates  I  have  many  times  scene  better  :  but  for  change  of  wines,  and 
divers  sorts  of  meads,  it  was  wonderful!  ;  for  there  was  not  left  at  any 
time  so  much  void  roome  on  the  table,  that  one  cuppe  might  have  bin 
set,  and  as  far  as  I  could  perceive,  all  the  rest  were  in  like  manner 
served. 

"  In  the  dinner  time  there  came  in  sixe  singers,  which  stood  in  the 
midst  of  the  chamber,  and  their  faces  toward  the  Emperour,  who  sang 
there  before  dinner  was  ended  three  severall  tjmes.  whose  songs  or 
voyces  delighted  our  eares  little  or  nothing. 

"  The  Emperour  never  putteth  morsell  of  meate  in  his  mouth,  but 
he  first  blesseth  it  himselfe,  and  in  like  manner  as  often  as  he  drinketh  : 
for  after  his  manner  he  is  very  religious,  and  he  esteemeth  his  religious 
men  above  his  noblemen." — Anthonie  Jenkinson,  1557. 

We  have  also  a  description  of  a  reception  here  in 
the  time  of  Michael  Feodorovitch,  the  first  of  the  Ro- 
manoffs. 

"  The  Great  Duke's  chair  was  opposite  the  door,  against  the  wall, 
rais'd  from  the  floor  three  steps,  having  at  the  four  corners  pillars 
which  were  vermilion  gilt,  about  three  inches  about,  with  each  of 
them,  at  the  height  of  an  ell  and  a  half,  an  imperial  eagle  of  silver, 
near  which  the  canopy  or  upper  part  of  the  chair  rested  upon  the  same 
pillars  ;  besides  which  the  said  chair  had  at  the  four  corners  as  many 
little  turrets  of  the  same  stuff,  having  also,  at  the  ends,  eagles,  after 
the  same  manner. 

"  The  Great  Duke  sate  in  his  chair,  clad  in  a  long  coat,  embroidered 
with  perls,  and  beset  with  all  sorts  of  precious  stones.  He  had  above 
his  cap,  which  was  of  martins'-skins,  a  crown  of  gold,  beset  with  great 
diamonds,  and  in  his  right  hand  a  scepter  of  the  same  metall,  and  no 
less  rich,  and  so  weighty,  that  he  was  forc'd  to  relieve  one  hand  with 
the  other.  On  both  sides  of  his  majesty's  chair  stood  young  lords, 
very  handsome,  both  as  to  face  and  body,  clad  in  long  coats  of  white 
damaske,  with  caps  of  linxs'-skin,  and  white  buskins,  with  chains  of 
gold,  which,  crossing  upon  the  breast,  reach'd  down  to  their  hips. 
They  had  laid  over  their  shoulders  each  a  silver  ax,  whereunto  they 
put  their  hands,  as  if  they  had  been  going  to  give  their  stroke.  On 
the  right  side  of  the  chair,  upon  a  pyramid  of  silver,  carv'd  through, 
stood  the  imperial  apple,  of  massy  gold,  representing  the  world,  as  big 
as  a  cannon  bullet  of  48  pound  weight  :  and  at  a  like  distance  on  the 
same  side,  a  basin  and  ewer  and  a  napkin,  to  wash  and  wipe  the  Great 
Duke's  hands,  after  the  ambassadors  and  those  of  their  retinue  have 
kissed  them.  The  principal  bo'iars  or  lords  of  the  court,  to  the  number 
of  fifty,  were  all  sat  upon  benches  by  the  wall-side,  on  one  side,  and 
opposite  the  Great  Duke,  very  richly  clad,  with  great  caps  of  a  black 
fox  furr,  a  good  quarter  of  an  ell  high.  The  chancellor  stood  on  the 
right  hand,  some  five  paces  from  the  chair." — "  Voyages  and  Travels 
of  the  Ambassadors  of  Frederick,  Duke  of  Holstein,  1633-1639." 


2io  S  TUDIES  IN  &  U  SSI  A . 

The  most  curious  part  of  the  whole  palace  is  the  Terem} 
the  residence  of  the  Tsaritsa  and  Tsarevnas,  almost 
answering  to  an  oriental  harem.  It  is  built  in  four  stories, 
each  story  diminishing  in  size  and  surrounded  by  a  bal- 
cony supported  upon  the  walls  of  the  story  below  it.  A 
curious  old  stone  staircase,  of  most  oriental  character, 
leads  to  the  Terem.  Here  we  find  dining-room,  council 
hall,  oratory,  bedroom,  all  low  and  small,  with  vaulted 
ceilings.  The  rooms  are  all  painted  in  gay  barbaric 
colors,  and  are  very  curious.  The  furniture  is  not  really 
ancient,  but  a  series  of  exact  copies  of  what  was  here 
originally.  The  old  furniture  being  considered  to  be 
falling  into  decay,  was  copied,  and  then  sold  without 
mercy  ;  for  that  which  is  called  the  preservation  of  antiq- 
uities here  is  often  the  baptizing  of  novelties  with  ancient 
names.2  Here  we  may  imagine  the  Tsars  amusing  them- 
selves with  the  oddities  of  their  dwarfs,  whilst  the  ladies 
were  listening  to  endless  "bilini."3 

"  In  the  family  of  the  Tsar  the  seclusion  in  the  Terem,  or  women's 
apartments,  was  almost  complete.  This  was  in  part  due  to  a  super- 
stitious belief  in  witchcraft,  the  evil  eye,  and  charms  that  might  affect 
the  life,  health,  or  fertility  of  the  royal  race.  Neither  the  Tsaritsa  nor 
the  princesses  ever  appeared  openly  in  public  ;  they  never  went  out 
except  in  a  closed  litter  or  carriage  ;  in  church  they  stood  behind  a 
veil — made,  it  is  true,  sometimes  of  gauze  ;  but  they  usually  timed 
their  visits  to  the  churches  or  monasteries  for  the  evening  or  early 
morning,  and  on  these  occasions  no  one  was  admitted  except  the  imme- 
diate attendants  of  the  court.  Von  Meyerberg,  imperial  ambassador  at 
Moscow  in  1663,  writes,  that  out  of  a  thousand  courtiers,  there  will 
hardly  be  found  one  that  can  boast  that  he  has  seen  the  Tsaritsa,  or 
any  of  the  sisters  or  daughters  of  the  Tsar.  Even  their  physicians  are 
not  allowed  to  see  them.  When  it  is  necessary  to  call  a  doctor  for  the 
Tsaritsa,  the  windows  are  all  darkened,  and  he  is  obliged  to  feel  her 
pulse  through  a  piece  of  gauze,  so  as  not  to  touch  her  bare  hand  ! 
Even  chance  encounters  were  severely  punished.  In  1674,  the  cham- 
berlains, Dashkof  and  Buterlin,  on  suddenly  turning  a  corner  in  one  of 
the  interior  courts  of  the  palace,  met  the  carriage  of  the  Tsaritsa 
Natalia,  who  was  going  to  prayers  at  a  convent.  Their  colleagues  suc- 

1  "  The  word  terem  (plural  terema)  is  defined  by  Dahl  in  its  antique  sense,  as 
'  a  raised,  lofty  habitation,  or  part  of  one — a  boyar's  castle— a  seigneur's  house — the 
dwelling-place  of  a  ruler  within  a  fortress,'  etc.     The  '  terem  of  the  women,'  some- 
times styled  '  of  the  girls,'  used  to  comprise  the  part  of  a  seigneur's  house,  on  the 
upper  floor,  set  aside  for  the  female  members  of  his  family.     Dahl  compares  it  with 
the  Russian  tyurma,  a  prison,  and  the  German  Tkurm.     But  it  seems  really  to  be 
derived  from  the  Greek  r£p£/J,vovt  '  any  thing  closely  shut  fast,  or  closely  covered,  a 
room,  a  chamber.1    etc." — Ralston. 

2  See  Custine. 

3  See  M.  Zabielin,  Domestic  Life  of  the  Tsars. 


THE  TEREM.  211 

ceeded  in  getting  out  of  the  way  ;  Dashkof  and  Buterh'n  were  arrested, 
examined,  and  deprived  of  their  offices,  but  as  the  encounter  was 
proved  to  be  purely  fortuitous  and  unavoidable,  they  were  in  a  few 
days  restored  to  their  rank.  Yet  this  was  during  the  reign  of  Alexis, 
who  was  far  less  strict  than  his  predecessors. 

"  The  household  of  the  Tsar  was  organized  like  that  of  any  great 
noble,  though  on  a  larger  scale.  Of  the  women's  part,  the  Tsaritsa 
was  nominally  the  head.  She  had  to  attend  to  her  own  wardrobe, 
which  took  no  little  time,  and  oversee  that  of  her  husband  and  her 
children,  and  had  under  her  direction  a  large  establishment  of  sewing 
women.  She  must  receive  petitions  and  attend  to  cases  of  charity.  She 
must  provide  husbands  and  dowries  for  the  many  young  girls  about 
her  Court,  and  then  keep  a  constant  look-out  for  their  interests  and 
those  of  their  families.  She  had,  too,  her  private  estates,  the  accounts 
of  which  she  audited,  and  the  revenues  of  which  she  collected  and 
expended.  What  little  time  was  left  from  household  cares  and  religious 
duties  could  be  spent  in  talk,  in  listening  to  stories  and  songs,  in 
laughing  at  the  jests  of  the  Court  fools,  in  looking  on  at  the  amuse- 
ments of  the  girls  in  the  play-hall,  or  in  embroidering  towels  and  nap- 
kins, robes  for  the  Tsar  and  princes,  and  altar-cloths  and  vestments  for 
the  Church." — Eugene  Schuyler. 

1 '  Lorsque  le  tsar  voulait  se  marier,  il  adressait  aux  gouverneurs  des 
villes  et  des  provinces  une  circulaire  qui  leur  enjoignait  d'envoyer  a 
Moscou  les  plus  belles  filles  de  1'empire,  celles  du  moins  que  apparte- 
naient  a  la  noblesse.  Comme  Assue'rus  dans  la  Bible,  comme  1'empereur 
The'ophile  dans  les  chroniques  de  Byzance,  comme  Louis  le  Debonnaire 
dans  le  re'cit  de  FAstronome,  il  faisait  son  choix  entre  toutes  ces  beautes. 
Pour  Vassili  Ivanovitch  on  reunit  1,500  jeunes  filles  ;  apres  un  premier 
concours  500  furent  envoyees  a  Moscou  ;  le  grand  prince  fit  un  nouveau 
triage  de  300,  puis  de  200,  puis  de  100,  puis  de  10,  qui  furent  d'ailleurs 
examinees  par  des  me'decins  et  des  sages-femmes.  La  plus  belle  de 
toutes,  et  la  plus  saine,  devenait  la  souveraine  ;  elle  prenait  un  nouveau 
nom,  en  signe  qu'elle  commenfait  une  nouvelle  existence  ;  son  pere, 
devenu  beau  pere  du  tsar,  changeait  aussi  de  nom  ;  ses  parents  deve- 
naient  \v$>proches  du  prince,  constituaientson^«/0#ttZ£v»,  s'emparaient  de 
toutes  les  charges  et  gouvernaient  les  Etats  comme  la  maison  de  leur 
imperial  allie.  Les  ministres  et  les  entours  evinces  essayaient  en  secret 
de  reconquerir  le  pouvoir  en  faisant  pe'rir  la  nouvelle  souveraine,  et 
n'hesitaient  pas  a  recourir  au  poison  et  a  la  magie.  Beaucoup  de  ces 
fiancees  imperiales  ne  survecurent  pas  a  leur  triomphe,  et  attaque'es  tout 
a  coup  de  maladies  mysterieuses,  moururent  avant  le  jour  du  couronne- 
ment.  Tous  les  successeurs  de  Vassili  Ivanovitch,  jusqu'a  Alexis 
Mikhailovitch  inclusivement,  instituerent  ces  concours  de  beaute  pour 
choisir  leurs  epouses.  C'etait  le  privilege  des  souverains  de  Moscou 
et  des  princes  de  leur  sang." — Rambaud,  "  Hist,  de  la  Russie." 

The  first  Tsaritsa  who  rebelled  against  the  rigid  seclu- 
sion of  the  Terem  was  Natalia  Naryskin,  the  second  wife 
of  Alexis,  and  mother  of  Peter  the  Great.  In  the  house 
of  her  uncle,  the  minister  Matveef,  who  had  married  a 


2 1 2  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

Scotchwoman,  she  had  been  accustomed  to  see  her  aunt 
take  a  part  in  the  daily  life  and  conversation  of  men,  and 
after  she  was  married  to  the  Tsar  she  astonished  Moscow 
by  going  about  with  the  curtains  of  her  litter  undrawn, 
allowing  her  face  to  be  seen,  and  she  acted  before  the 
town  in  little  dramas  taken  from  Scripture  history.  The 
first  Tsarevna  to  emancipate  herself  was  the  famous 
Sophia,  then  aged  twenty-five,  one  of  the  six  surviving 
daughters  of  Alexis  Michailovitch  by  Maria  Miloslavski. 
The  Terem  was  entirely  abolished  by  Peter  the  Great, 
who  was  the  first  to  institute  assemblies  and  balls,  where 
men  and  women  met  and  even  danced  together. 

The  memory  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  is  the  chief  specter 
which  haunts  these  weird  apartments. 

"  Ivan  IV.,  le  tyran  par  excellence,  fut  Tame  du  Kremlin.  Ce  n'est 
pas  qu'il  ait  bati  cette  forteresse,  mais  il  y  est  ne,  il  y  est  mort,  il  y 
revient,  son  esprit  y  demeure." — M,  de  Cusline. 

Many  of  the  plaintive  songs  still  popular  in  Russia  keep 
up  the  memory  of  the  Tsaritsas — two  of  his  seven  wives, 
and  the  two  wives  of  his  son,  deposed  by  Ivan  the  Terrible. 

"All  is  sad  with  us  in  Moscow :  sadly  sounds  the  great  bell.  The 
Tsar  is  angry  with  the  Tsaritsa  ;  he  sends  the  Tsaritsa  far  from  his 
sight ;  far  away  to  the  town  of  Sousdal,  to  the  Pokrovski  monastery. 

' '  And  the  Tsaritsa  walked  in  the  palace,  and  bewailed  her  fate. 
'  O  you,  palaces  of  stone,  palaces  of  white  stone,  palaces  of  purple  ! 
Can  it  be  true  that  I  shall  never  walk  here  again  ?  Shall  I  never  sit 
again  at  the  tables  of  cypress  wood  ?  Shall  I  never  taste  of  the  sugared 
food  ?  Shall  I  never  eat  of  the  black  swan  ?  Shall  I  never  hear  again 
the  sweet  voice  of  my  Tsar  ? ' 

"  And  she  went  forth,  the  Tsaritsa  went  forth,  upon  the  staircase  ; 
she  cried  aloud,  cried  with  her  soft  voice,  '  O  you,  my  little  squires, 
my  little  squires,  my  runners  on  foot,  prepare  the  chariot,  but  .  .  .  not 
too  quickly  ;  go  forth  from  Moscow,  but  .  .  .  not  too  hastily  ;  for  it 
may  be  that  the  Tsar  will  soften,  it  maybe  that  he  will  bid  me  return." 
And  what  did  the  young  squires  answer  ?  '  O  you,  our  mother,  the 
Tsaritsa,  Matfa  Matfeevna,  possibly  the  Tsar  will  soften,  possibly  you 
will  return.' 

' '  But  the  hopes  of  the  Tsaritsa  were  illusive  :  slowly,  slowly,  her 
chariot  passed  out  of  Moscow  ;  and  from  the  gates  of  the  convent,  the 
abbess  and  her  nuns  advance  in  procession  to  receive  her.  They  take 
her  by  her  white  hands  and  lead  her  to  her  cell — '  not  for  an  hour,  not 
for  a  day,  but  for  her  whole  life.'  "  J 

i  Prince  Serebranny^  a  novel  of  Count  Alexis  Tolstoi,  translated  into  French 
by  Prince  Galitzin,  depicts  the  manners  and  the  terrors  of  the  court  of  Ivan  the 
Terrible. 


THE  TEREM.  213 

From  one  of  the  terraces  of  the  Terem  you  enter  the 
chapel  of  "  Spassa  solotuyu  rishotkoyu  " — The  Redeemer 
behind  the  Golden  Balustrade. — In  a  room  near  this  are 
preserved  a  number  of  loaves  presented  to  the  Emperor 
on  his  various  visits  to  Moscow  ;  for  when  in  the  Krem- 
lin, the  Emperor  pleases  the  people  by  always  eating 
kalatsch,  the  peculiar,  circular,  light,  hollow  bread  of  the 
place.  It  was  in  one  of  these  rooms  that  Ivan  the  Terri- 
ble died.1 

"  Surrounded  by  the  shades  of  murdered  men,  he  set  as  a  blood-red 
sun  in  mists.  The  Metropolitan  Dionysius,  in  accordance  with  his 
wish,  gave  him  the  tonsure  in  the  name  of  his  favorite  monastery  of 
Bielo-ozero,  and  so  from  the  terrible  Ivan  he  became  the  simple  monk 
Jonah,  and  as  such  gave  up  his  soul  to  the  heavenly  Judge  of  his 
dreadful  reign  on  earth." — Mouravieff. 

In  these  rooms  also,  Jeremiah,  Patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, visited  Ivan's  daughter-in-law,  the  beautiful  Tsaritsa 
Irene,  sister  of  Boris  Godunof. 

"  The  central  apartment 'of  the  Tsaritsa,  which  was  a  rotunda,  shone 
with  the  purest  gold  ;  and  by  the  ingenious  disposition  of  the  archi- 
tect, there  was  an  audible  echo  in  it  even  of  what  was  spoken  in  a 
whisper.  The  walls  were  adorned  with  the  costliest  mosaics,  which 
portrayed  the  acts  of  the  saints,  choirs  of  angels,  martyrs  and  bishops  ; 
while  above  the  magnificent  throne,  shone  through  a  blaze  of  jewels  a 
large  icon  of  the  most  holy  Immaculate  Virgin,  with  the  eternal  Child 
in  her  arms,  surrounded  by  choirs  of  saints,  crowned  with  gold  and 
adorned  with  pearls,  rubies  and  sapphires.  The  floor  was  covered  with 
cunningly  wrought  carpets,  on  which  the  sport  of  hawking  was  rep- 
resented to  the  life  ;  and  other  figures  of  birds  and  animals,  carved  in 
precious  metals,  glittered  on  all  sides  of  the  apartment.  In  the  center 
of  the  arched  roof,  an  exquisitely  sculptured  lion  held  in  his  mouth  a 
serpent  twisted  into  a  ring,  from  which  golden  lamps  were  suspended. 

"  But  the  dress  of  the  Tsaritsa  exceeded  in  splendor  all  that  sur- 
rounded her.  Her  necklace,  bracelets  and  collar  were  made  of  heavy, 
uniform  pearls,  and  her  robe,  trimmed  with  sables,  was  fastened  by 
dark  emeralds  and  brilliants  ;  while  her  crown,  which  was  priceless, 
shone  with  every  variety  of  precious  stone  :  twelve  battlements,  like 
the  wall  of  a  town,  surrounded  it,  in  memory  of  the  Twelve  Apostles, 
and  diamonds  hung  down  from  it,  in  large  drops  upon  the  pure  fore- 
head of  the  Tsaritsa.  And  for  all  this,  the  angelic  beauty  of  that 
forehead  itself  eclipsed  the  splendor  of  her  royal  ornaments.  When 
she  saw  the  patriarchs,  the  Tsaritsa  arose  graciously  from  her  throne, 
and  met  them  in  the  middle  of  the  hall,  and  humbly  asked  their 

i  One  of  the  most  striking  dramas  ever  written  for  the  Russian  stage  is  The 
Death  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  of  Count  Alexis  Tolstoi.  With  this  the  tragedies  of 
the  Tsar  Feodor  and  the  Tsar  Boris  form  a  trilogy, 


2 1 4  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

blessing.  .  .  .  After  this  she  retired  a  few  steps,  and  stood  nearly  in 
her  own  royal  place,  having  the  pious  Tsar  on  her  right  hand,  and  on 
her  left  her  brother,  the  boyar,  with  his  head  uncovered,  while  a  little 
behind  her  stood  in  order  the  wives  of  the  princes,  each,  according  to 
her  rank,  attired  in  white,  with  their  hands  crossed  upon  their  breasts, 
and  their  faces  inclined  to  the  ground.  At  a  sign  from  the  Tsar  they 
all,  one  after  the  other,  reverently  advanced  to  receive  the  blessing  of 
the  most  holy  patriarchs  ;  while  the  orthodox  Tsaritsa,  having  received 
from  the  hands  of  her  first  lady  a  precious  golden  chalice,  studded  with 
six  thousand  seed  pearls  and  other  precious  stones,  presented  it  with 
her  own  hand  to  the  patriarch  ;  and  then  sat  down  herself,  and  desired 
him  also  to  be  seated." 

The  right  wing  of  the  Palace  is  occupied  by  the  Treas- 
ury— Orujeinaya  Palata — supposed  to  be  freely  shown  to 
travelers,  but  of  which  importunate  officials  only  allow 
them  the  most  hurried  glimpse.  It  seems  always  to  have 
been  thus,  and  complaints  of  the  way  in  which  visitors  are 
hurried  will  be  found  in  "  Clarke's  Travels,"  and  also  in 
the  "  Voyage  de  deux  Francpais."  Yet  nothing  in  Russia 
is  more  worth  seeing  in  detail,  for  the  treasure  of  the 
Kremlin  is  the  chronicle  of  its  country,  as  much  a  history 
in  precious  stones  as  the  Roman  forum  is  in  stones  of 
building. 

Ascending  the  staircase  we  pass  through  several  rooms 
containing  specimens  of  ancient  armor,  and  see  how  in 
later  times  the  bows  of  the  streltsi  were  changed  to  match- 
locks by  Ivan  II.,  and  to  muskets  by  Alexis,  and  (in  the 
second  room)  the  standard  of  Ivan  the  Terrible.  One 
room  is  hung  with  Romanoff  portraits,  which  include  a 
picture  of  Catherine  II.,  represented  as  a  good-looking 
young  man  in  a  blue  coat,  tight  breeches,  and  a  cocked 
hat,  on  horseback.  Here  are  several  of  the  later  coro- 
nation chairs.  A  room,  to  the  right  of  this,  contains  the 
most  precious  relics  of  the  collection,  the  throne  of  Poland 
taken  from  Warsaw  in  1833  ;  the  Eastern  ivory  throne  of 
Sophia  Paleologus,  which  she  brought  with  her  in  1473 
on  her  marriage  with  Ivan  the  Great  ;  and  a  gorgeous 
jeweled  throne  brought  from  Persia  in  1660,  and  used  by 
Alexis.  Here  also  is  the  famous  orb,  said  to  have  been 
sent  to  St.  Vladimir  with  other  treasures  by  the  Greek 
Emperors  Basil  and  Constantine. 

The  next  room  is  surrounded  by  a  kind  of  wardrobe  of 
coronation  robes,  including  that  robe  of  Catherine  II, 


THE  TREASURY.  215 

which  was  so  heavy  with  gold  and  jewels  that  it  needed 
twelve  chamberlains  to  support  it.  Here  we  see  a  suc- 
cession of  crowns  upon  pedestals  standing  before  the 
empty  thrones  of  those  who  wore  them,  and  the  crown 
falsely  attributed  to  Vladimir  Monomachus,  still  used  in 
coronations.  The  crowns  of  Kazan,  Astrakan,  Georgia, 
Siberia,  and  Poland,  are  all  covered  with  jewels,  some  of 
them  the  largest,  almost  the  most  precious  in  the  world — 
"  crowns  upon  crowns,  scepters  upon  scepters,  rivers  of 
diamonds,  oceans  of  pearls."  The  crown  of  the  Crimea 
is  the  simplest — a  golden  circlet.  How  insignificant  all 
other  treasuries  seem  compared  with  this  ! 

"  Les  couronnes  de  Pierre  I.,  de  Catherine  I.,  et  d'Elisabeth  m'ont 
surtout  frappe  :  que  d'or,  de  diamants  .  .  .  et  de  poussiere  ! " — M.  de 
Custine. 

The  more  ancient  collections  are  described  on  the  visit 
of  Chancellor  in  1555.  He  saw  the  "goodly  gownes," 
two  of  them  "  as  heavie  as  a  man  could  easily  carrie,  all 
set  with  pearles  over  and  over,  and  the  borders  garnished 
with  sapphires  and  other  good  stones  abundantly."  It 
used  to  be  the  custom  to  dress  up  tradesmen  and  others 
in  these  robes  of  the  treasury  to  add  to  the  effect  on  days 
of  high  ceremonial. 

"  We  entered  sundry  roomes  furnished  in  shew  with  ancient  grave 
personages,  all  in  long  garments  of  sundry '  colours  :  golde,  tissue, 
baldekin,  and  violet,  as  our  vestments  and  copes  have  bene  in  En- 
gland, sutable  with  caps,  jewels,  and  chaines.  These  were  found  to 
be  no  courtiers,  but  ancient  Muscovites,  inhabitants,  and  other  their 
merchants  of  credite,  as  the  manner  is,  furnished  thus  from  the  ward, 
robe  and  treasurie,  waiting  and  wearing  this  apparell  for  the  time, 
and  so  to  restore  it." — Henry  Lane  to  Sanderson,  1555.  Hakluyt, 
"  Voyages"  i. 

The  double  throne  which  is  shown  was  made  for  the 
twofold  coronation  of  Ivan  and  Peter,  and  has  the  aper- 
ture behind  through  which  his  sister  Sophia  was  able  to 
prompt  her  feeble-minded  brother. 

' '  Ce  meuble  singulier  est  le  simbole  de  ce  gouvernement  inou'i  en 
Russe,  compose  de  deux  tsars  visibles  et  d'une  souveraine  invisible." 
— Rambaud. 

The  last  and  largest  of  the  upper  rooms  contains  an 
himense  collection  of  ancient  gold  and  silver  plate,  cups 


2 1 6  S  TUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

of  jewels  and  precious  stones,  and  priceless  embroideries 
and  caparisons  of  horses.  Historical  relics  here  are  the 
wrought  helmet  of  St.  Alexander  Nevskoi  ;  the  comb, 
ivory  sticks,  and  ivory  cup  of  Marina,  wife  of  the  false 
Dmitri ;  and  a  copy  of  the  laws  of  Alexis  Michaelovitch, 
begun  in  1648  and  written  on  rolls. 

A  great  deal  of  handsome  English  plate  was  presented 
by  James  I.,  Charles  I.,  and  Charles  II.  We  see  the  plate 
used  to  reward  public  service — a  cup  with  a  cover  and 
the  spread  eagle,  which  was  given  to  persons  of  the  high- 
est rank  ;  a  simple  cup  to  the  next  ;  and  a  coin  of  gold, 
with  a  hole  drilled  through  it,  for  military  service.  In 
the  collection  of  coins,  we  see  that  the  older  coins  were 
not  struck,  but  punched  on  the  reverse,  and  two  pieces  of 
silver  joined  together,  so  as  to  seem  a  fresh  coin.  The 
coins  which  show  Sophia  on  one  side  and  her  two 
brothers  on  the  other,  are  a  curious  testimony  to  her 
ambition. 

On  returning  down  stairs  we  see  in  the  first  room  an 
extraordinary  model  of  the  Kremlin,  as  Catherine  II. 
proposed  to  reconstruct  it.  The  model  cost  50,000 
roubles.  It  was  made  by  Andrew  Wetmann,  a  German, 
after  a  design  of  the  architect  Bajarof,  a  pupil  of  Vailly.1 

A  room  filled  with  Polish  portraits  carried  off  from 
Warsaw,  leads  to  a  third  room  which  is  filled  with  ancient 
court-carriages.  The  most  interesting  are  the  magnifi- 
cent chariot  sent  by  Elizabeth  of  England  to  Boris  Godu- 
nof ;  the  little  coach  of  Peter  the  Great  as  a  child,  with 
windows  of  mica  ;  the  huge  state  coach  of  the  Empress 
Elizabeth,  and  her  still  larger  traveling  carriage  on  run- 
ners, lined  with  green  baize  and  fitted  up  with  table  and 
benches.  Here  also  is  the  camp  bed  of  Napoleon  taken 
in  the  flight  from  Moscow,  when  his  private  papers  were 
found  in  the  pocket  of  the  pillow-case. 


We  must  now  visit  the  Ascension  Convent — Voscresenski 
Devitchi — which  stands  back  in  a  garden  court  between 
the  cathedral  and  the  Redeemer's  Gate.  It  was  founded 
in  1389  by  Eudoxia,  wife  of  Dmitri  of  the  Don. 

i  J'lyagv  de deux  Francais. 


THE  ASCENSION  CONVENT.  217 

"The  devotion  of  Eudoxia  and  her  love  of  church-building  cause 
her  to  be  compared  to  Mary,  wife  of  Vsevolod  the  Great,  grandson 
of  Monomachus.  It  is  she  who  founded,  in  the  Kremlin,  the  monastery 
of  the  Ascension,  for  women  ;  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  of  Our  Lady, 
and  other  temples  decorated  and  painted  by  the  Greek  Theophanes 
and  Simeon  the  Black.  This  pious  princess  cherished  virtue  as  much 
as  she  abhorred  the  pretense  of  it.  In  order  to  conceal,  under  an 
appearance  of  well-being,  the  wasting  of  her  frame,  which  was  the 
result  of  perpetual  fastings  and  mortifications,  she  wore  several 
dresses,  adorned  herself  with  pearls,  and  always  appeared  with  a 
radiant  aspect ;  nothing  rejoiced  her  more  than  when  she  heard  slan- 
der raise  doubts  about  her  virtue,  declaring  that  Eudoxia  was  always 
seeking  admiration,  and  even  that  she  had  lovers.  These  rumors 
appeared  outrageous  to  the  sons  of  Donskoi,  especially  to  Youri 
Dmitrievitch,  who  could  not  conceal  from  his  mother  how  much  they 
troubled  him.  Eudoxia  at  last  called  them,  and  removed  a  portion  of 
her  garments  in  their  presence.  '  Believe  now,'  she  cried  to  her  sons, 
horror-stricken  at  the  sight  of  her  body  wasted  and  worn  by  excess  of 
fasting,  '  believe  that  your  mother  is  chaste  ;  but  let  what  you  have 
seen  remain  forever  a  secret  for  the  world.  She  who  loves  Jesus 
Christ  ought  to  bear  calumny,  and  to  thank  God  for  having  sent  her 
this  trial.'  The  slander  was  soon  reduced  to  silence.  A  short  time 
before  her  death,  Eudoxia  abandoned  the  world,  and  entered  the 
monastery,  where  she  took  the  name  of  Euphrosyne,  and  ended  her 
days,  honored  with  that  of  saint." — Karamsin. 

After  Eudoxia  was  buried  here,  the  church  became 
the  burying-place  of  the  illustrious  house  of  Moscow  for 
all  the  Grand-Princesses  and  their  daughters,  whose 
tombs  are  ranged  side  by  side  beginning  with  hers.1 
Almost  immediately  follow  the  sarcophagi  of  the  wives 
of  Ivan  the  Great — the  beloved  Mary  of  Tver,  who  died 
at  Kolomna  of  poison  in  extreme  youth  (1467),  and  the 
unloved  but  brilliant  and  energetic  Sophia  (1503),  daugh- 
ter of  the  Emperor  of  the  East.  Then  attention  will  be 
drawn  to  the  tomb  of  Helena,  widow  of  Vassili  Ivano- 
vitch,  and  sovereign  regent  of  Russia  during  the  minority 
of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  who  died  of  poison  in  1538.  Next 
comes  the  tomb  of  Ivan  IV. 's  first  wife  Anastasia  (1560), 
his  good  angel,  with  whom  his  prosperity  came  to  an  end, 
followed  by  those  of  his  succeeding  wives,  Mary  (1569), 
and  Marpha  (1571),  who  both  died  of  poison.  Near 
these  rests  the  young  Tsarevna  Theodosia,  the  child  of 
Feodor  and  Irene,  hailed  with  the  most  extreme  delight 
by  her  parents,  but  taken  away  from  them  in  infancy. 

i  See  Mouravieff,  ch.  v. 


2 1 8  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

Perhaps  the  greatest  interest  centers  around  the  tomb  of 
Irene  Godunof,  widow  of  the  Tsar  Feodor,  who  died  a 
nun  in  the  Novo  Devichi  Monastery. 

"  Through  six  years  she  had  never  left  her  voluntary  retreat,  unless 
to  go  to  the  chapel,  which  was  erected  near  her  humble  dwelling. 
Illustrious  by  her  mental  qualities,  and  by  her  extraordinary  destiny, 
her  fortune  had  come  to  seek  her,  when,  bereft  of  father  and  mother, 
she  was  pining  in  sad  isolation.  Though  brought  up  and  cherished  by 
Ivan  (the  Terrible),  she  remained  virtuous.  First  female  sovereign 
regnant  in  Russia,  she  shut  herself  up,  while  still  young,  in  a  convent. 
Pure  herself  before  God,  she  is  stained  in  history  by  her  relationship 
to  a  cruel  adventurer,  to  whom,  though  unintentionally,  she  pointed 
out  the  way  to  the  throne.  Blinded  by  the  attachment  she  felt  for 
him,  and  by  the  luster  of  his  seeming  virtues,  she  was  either  ignorant 
of  his  crimes,  or  never  believed  in  them.  .  .  .  Irene,  who  never 
interfered  with  Boris  during  his  reign,  served  as  his  guardian  angel  by 
attracting  toward  him  the  affections  of  the  people,  who  never  ceased 
to  regard  her,  even  in  her  cell,  as  the  true  mother  of  her  country. 
Irene  was  happy  in  her  death  ;  she  did  not  witness  the  loss  of  all  that 
she  still  loved  upon  earth." — Karamsin. 

The  wives  of  Michael  and  Alexis  Romanoff  have 
tombs  here.  The  last  sarcophagus  is  that  of  Eudoxia, 
first  wife  of  Peter  the  Great.  All  the  tombs  are  covered 
by  velvet  palls,  with  borders  of  gold  and  siver  lace.  The 
place  is  watched  over  by  a  number  of  sweet-looking  nuns, 
extremely  busy,  even  in  the  church,  in  the  sale  of  their 
needle-work  and  icons,  at  exceedingly  low  prices.  They 
are  dressed  in  robes  of  black  stuff,  with  black  veils  and 
forehead-cloths  and  black  wrappers  under  the  chin.  The 
abbess  is  only  distinguished  by  a  robe  of  black  silk. 
Meat  is  entirely  prohibited  in  this  convent.  The  service 
on  Orthodox  Sunday  is  especially  striking  here,  when  the 
Russian  Church  gratefully  and  publicly  offers 

"  To  the  religious  Great  Duke  Vladimir  equal  to  the  Apostles,  and 
to  Olga  his  grandmother,  and  to  all  other  religious  princes  and  prin- 
cesses of  Russia,  everlasting  remembrance. 

"  To  the  religious  princesses,  daughters  of  tsars  and  great  duches- 
ses, Anna  Petrowna,  Natalia  Petrowna— To  the  religious  princesses, 
daughters  of  the  sons  of  tsars  and  great  duchesses,  Tatiana  Michael- 
owna,  Irene  Michaelowna,  the  nun  Anthya  Michaelowna,  the  nun 
Sophia  Alexiewna,  the  nun  Margarita  Alexiewna,  Theodosia  Alex- 
iewna,  Eudoxia  Alexiewna,  Catherina  Ivanowna,  Parascovia  Ivan- 
owna  :  to  the  religious  princess  and  great  duchess  Natalia  Alexiewna 
and  the  rest  of  the  imperial  family,  and  all  who  are  born  of  great 
dukes  of  Russia,  everlasting  remembrance." 


CHUDOF  MONA STER  Y.  2 1 9 

It  was  to  this  convent  that  the  Tsaritsa  Marpha, 
seventh  wife  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  and  mother  of  the 
murdered  Dmitri,  was  dragged  from  her  convent  at 
Bielo-ozero,  to  be  treated  with  feigned  honors,  forced  to 
recognize  the  usurper  as  her  son,  and  to  receive  his 
Polish  bride  Marina  as  her  future  daughter-in-law  ;  here 
also  she  eventually  summoned  courage  to  denounce  the 
false  Dmitri,  and  caused  his  downfall  and  death. 

Nearer  the  gate  is  ChMof  or  Miracle  Monastery, 
founded  in  1365  by  St.  Alexis,  on  ground  given  to  him 
by  Taidula,  wife  of  the  Tartar  Khan  Djanibek,  who  con- 
sidered that  he  had  cured  her  from  illness  by  a  miracle, 
whence  the  name.  It  was  here  that,  in  1440,  the  Patri- 
arch Isidore,  who  attended  the  council  of  Florence  and 
horrified  the  Russian  orthodoxy  by  acknowledging  the 
supremacy  of  the  Pope,  was  imprisoned  on  his  return, 
though  he  soon  escaped  and  fled  to  Rome.  Here  also 
the  intrusive  Patriarch  Ignatius,  who  had  blessed  the 
false  Dmitri,  was  imprisoned  in  1606,  and  herein  1612 
the  Patriarch  Hermogenes  was  starved  to  death  by  the 
Poles,  the  Tsar  Vassili  Shuiski  having  already  been  com- 
pelled to  become  a  monk  in  the  convent. 

The  church  contains  the  body  of  "  St.  Alexis  the  won- 
der-worker "  (Thaumaturge),  in  a  silver  shrine.  It  was 
discovered  after  the  retreat  of  the  French,  untouched, 
though  Marshal  Davoust  had  his  quarters  in  the  sacristy 
and  slept  there.  It  is  said  that  he  asked,  "  Whose  tomb 
is  this  ?  "  and  being  told,  said,  "  Let  the  old  man  rest." 
Every  sovereign  on  his  entrance  into  Moscow  visits  the 
grave  of  Alexis,  and  all  children,  on  being  first  taken  to 
school,  are  brought  hither  to  implore  the  saint  to  watch 
over  their  studies.  The  robes  of  Alexis  are  preserved 
near  his  shrine,  and  his  will  is  in  the  sacristy. 

' '  Long  before  the  reign  of  Vassili  I vanovitch,  say  the  chroniclers, 
had  the  relics  of  the  holy  Metropolitan  Alexis  the  power  of  healing 
the  sick  ;  but  in  1519,  this  miraculous  power  was  confirmed  by  a 
sacred  ceremony.  The  Metropolitan  Varlaam  having  informed  the 
monarch  that  many  blind  persons,  filled  with  lively  faith  as  they 
kissed  the  reliquary  of  St.  Alexis,  had  recovered  their  sight,  the 
clergy  assembled  at  the  sound  of  all  the  bells  with  an  innumerable 
multitude  of  people,  and  these  miracles,  with  the  proofs  in  support  of 
them,  were  announced  with  pomp  :  the  Te  Deum  was  sung  upon  the 
holy  tomb  ;  the  Great  Prince,  filled  with  emotion,  was  the  first  to 


220  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

prostrate  himself,  rendering  thanks  to  the  Divine  Pity,  which,  in  his 
reign,  had  '  opened  a  second  source  of  blessing  and  salvation  for  Mos- 
cow.' St.  Alexis  was  henceforth  placed,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people, 
in  the  same  rank  as  the  Metropolitan  Peter,  the  ancient  patron  of 
Moscow. " —  Karamsin,  vii . 

In  this  church  the  idolized  Grand-Prince  Vassili  Ivano- 
vitch  (father  of  Ivan  the  Terrible),  "  the  good  and  affable 
Prince,"  lay  in  state,  having  received  the  monastic  ton- 
sure just  before  his  death  in  1533.  On  this  occasion 
the  grief  of  the  people  was  indescribable — "  They  were 
like  children  at  the  burial  of  their  father,"  say  the 
annalists. 

The  dedication  of  the  monastic  church  to  St.  Michael 
recalls  the  touching  story  of  the  murder  of  that  early 
Grand-Prince  in  1319  by  the  Tartars,  and  his  burial  in 
the  earlier  building  on  this  site,1  in  which  the  Ivan  Kalita 
(Ivan  I.)  took  the  monastic  habit  before  his  death  in 
1340.  The  "cells"  or  apartments  of  the  Metropolitan 
are  in  this  monastery,  which  has  been  rebuilt  since  the 
French  invasion  of  1812. 

Behind  the  monasteries  is  the  Arsenal,  constructed 
1701-1736.  Along  the  square  in  front  of  it  are  ranged  a 
quantity  of  cannon  "  taken  from  the  enemy  on  Russian 
territory  by  the  victorious  army  and  the  brave  and  faith- 
ful Russian  nation."  Many  of  the  guns,  left  behind  in 
the  retreat  when  winter  was  avenging  Moscow,  are  in- 
scribed— LaTempete,  L'Acharne,  L'Hercule,  etc.  Others 
bear  Latin  mottoes,  "  Vigilate  Deo  confidentes,"  "  Con- 
cordia  res  parvae  crescunt,"  "  Pro  gloria  et  patria  ;  " 
others  are  marked  "  Strasbourg,  le  26  Fructidor."2  The 
huge  cannon  nearest  the  cathedrals  is  called  the  Tsar 
Pushka  or  Tsar  Cannon,  and  bears  the  effigy  of  the  Tsar 
Feodor,  during  whose  reign  (1586)  it  was  cast.  This 
cannon  was  spared  by  a  special  Ukaz  of  Peter  the  Great, 
when  he  ordered  the  rest  of  the  old  cannon  to  be  recast. 
The  cannon  destroyed  included  some  interesting  works 
executed  under  Vassili  Ivanovitch. 

"  Basilius  dyd  furthermore  instytute  a  bande  of  harqabusiers  on 
horsebacke,  and  caused  many  great  brazen  pieces  to  be  made  by  the 

1  Karamsin,  iv. 

2  Not  a  single  gun  was  carried  by  the  French  across  the  Niemen  on  quitting 
Russia. 


THE  KREMLIN, 


221 


workmanshyp  of  certayne  Italians  :  and  the  same  with  theyr  stockes 
and  wheeles  to  be  placed  in  the  castle  of  Mosca." — Eden's  "  Hist,  of 
Travayles"  p.  301. 

The  gate  which  opens  into  the  Krasnaya  Ploschad, 
near  the  Arsenal,  is  the  Nicholas  Gate — Nikolski,  which 
dates  from  1491,  and  bears  the  miraculous  icon  of  St. 
Nicholas  of  Mojaisk,  which  is  supposed  to  have  caused 
Napoleon's  powder-wagons  to  explode  when  they  at- 
tempted to  pass  it.  The  other  two  gates  are  called 
Borovitski  and  Troitski.  By  the  last  the  French  both 
entered  and  left  the  Kremlin. 

"  Apres  avoir  vu  le  Kremlin,  on  ferait  bien  de  s'en  retourner 
tout  droit  dans  son  pays  :  1'emotion  du  voyage  est  epuisee." — M.  de 
Custine. 


KREMLIN,   MOSCOW. 

The  most  striking  view  of  the  Kremlin  is  that  just 
beyond  the  bridge  over  the  Moskva,  reached  by  the  steep 
descent  below  St.  Basil.  Owing  to  the  gold  with  which 
they  are  covered,  the  domes  and  spires  sparkle  even  after 
the  sun  has  set,  and  when  the  towers  are  mere  shadows 
against  the  blue  sky  of  night. 

"  There  is  a  massive  beauty  about  the  churches  of  the  Kremlin, 
which  no  one  who  has  not  see  n  them  can  form  an  idea  of.  No  out- 
lines, nor  even  any  colored  drawings,  can  give  it.  To  be  realized 
they  must  be  seen  with  their  massy  snowy  walls  and  their  golden 


222  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

cupolas  standing  out  against  the  pellucid  sky  and  resplendent  with  the 
midday  sun,  or — even  in  greater  beauty — embossed  upon  the  blueness 
of  a  summer  night." — "  The  Builder,"  Jan.  26,  1884. 

It  was  here  that  the  ancient  Tsar  used  to  assist  at  the 
Benediction  of  the  Waters,  as  we  read  in  "  Hakluyt's 
Voyages." 

"  The  4  of  January,  which  was  Twelftide  with  them,  the  Em- 
perour,  with  his  brother  and  all  his  nobles,  all  most  richly  appareled 
with  gold,  pearles,  precious  stones,  and  cosily  furres,  with  a  crowne 
upon  his  head,  of  the  Tartarian  fashion,  went  to  the  church  in  proces- 
sion, with  the  Metropolitan  and  divers  bishops  and  priests.  Then  he 
came  out  of  the  church,  and  went  with  the  procession  upon  the  river, 
being  all  frozen,  and  there  standing  bareheaded,  with  all  his  nobles, 
there  was  a  hole  made  in  the  ice,  and  the  Metropolitan  hallowed  the 
water  with  great  solemnitie  and  service,  and  did  cast  of  the  sayd  water 
upon  the  Emperour's  sonne  and  the  nobility.  That  done,  the  people 
with  great  thronging  filled  pots  of  the  said  water  to  carie  home  to  their 
houses,  and  divers  children  were  throwen  in,  and  sicke  people,  and 
plucked  out  quickly  againe,  and  divers  Tartars  christened  :  all  which 
the  Emperour  beheld.  Also  there  were  brought  the  Emperour's  best 
horses,  to  drink  at  the  sayd  hallowed  water.  All  this  being  ended,  he 
returned  to  his  palace  againe,  and  went  to  dinner  by  candle  light,  and 
sate  in  a  woodden  house,  very  fairly  gilt.  There  dined  in  the  place 
above  300  strangers,  and  I  sate  alone  opposite  the  Emperour,  and  had 
my  meat,  bread,  and  drinke  sent  me  from  the  Emperour." — Letters  oj 
Master  Anthonie  Jenkinson,  1557. 

Till  very  recently  the  Moskva  was  only  crossed  by  a 
kind  of  raft,  called  by  the  Russians  "  a  living  bridge," 
because  it  bent  under  the  weight  of  a  carriage.  Now 
there  are  several  bridges.  Near  that  at  the  foot  of  the 
Kremlin  on  the  west  is  a  church  set  apart  for  the  bene- 
diction of  apples  ;  and  this  is  not  given  until  the  first 
apple  drops  from  the  tree  and  is  brought  to  the  priest 
with  much  ceremony.  More  willingly  would  a  Mahome- 
tan eat  pork  than  a  Russian  unconsecrated  fruit. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MOSCOW. 

(THE  OUTER  CIRCLES.) 

VERY  near  the  bridge,  below  the  Kremlin  of  Moscow, 
is  the  Foundling  Hospital — Vospitatelny  Dom,  "  La 
Maison  Imperiale  d'Education,"  which  Madame  de  Stael 
calls  "une  des  plus  touchantes  institutions  de  1'Europe," 
was  founded  by  Catherine  II.,  and  greatly  fostered  by 
the  Empress  Marie  (widow  of  Paul),  whose  schools, 
charities,  and  hospitals  make  a  prominent  mark  in  Russian 
history.  The  hospital  is  an  immense  building  with  2,228 
windows,  which  receives  between  2,000  and  3,000  children 
annually.  No  questions  are  asked  on  admission,  except 
whether  the  child  has  been  christened  and  what  its  name 
is.  At  a  font  in  the  entrance-room  on  the  ground  floor, 
at  five  o'clock  daily,  those  children  are  admitted  into  the 
pale  of  Christianity  who  are  brought  to  the  hospital  with- 
out having  a  little  cross  hung  round  their  necks — the  sign 
of  a  Greek  Christian.  Women  may  come  here  for  their 
delivery,  and  leave  their  babies  behind  them.  The 
children  are  sent  to  nurses  in  the  country  till  they  are  five 
years  old,  and  then  are  received  back,  as  fast  as  there  are 
vacancies,  to  stay  till  they  are  eighteen,  when  they  are 
dismissed  with  thirty  roubles  and  two  suits  of  clothes. 
The  boys  are  liable  to  military  service,  but  the  greater 
number  of  them  become  agricultural  laborers.  Many  of 
the  girls  are  trained  as  hospital  nurses.  If  they  marry 
before  their  eighteenth  year,  they  are  provided  with  a 
trousseau.  It  is  worth  while  to  come  to  the  Sunday 
services  here  for  the  sake  of  the  singing,  which  is  very 
beautiful. 

*'  Unfortunately,  this  famous  refuge  has  corrupted  all  the  villages 
round  Moscow.     Peasant  girls  who  have  forgotten  to  get  married  send 


224  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

their  babies  to  the  institution,  and  then  offer  themselves  in  person  as 
wet  nurses.  Having  tattooed  their  offspring,  each  mother  contrives  to 
find  her  own,  and  takes  charge  of  it  by  a  private  arrangement  with 
the  nurse  to  whom  it  has  been  assigned.  As  babies  are  much  alike, 
the  authorities  can  not  detect  these  interchanges,  and  do  not  attempt 
to  do  so.  In  due  time  the  mother  returns  to  her  village  with  her  own 
baby,  whose  board  will  be  well  paid  by  the  State  at  the  rate  of  8s.  a 
month,  and  possibly  next  year  and  the  year  after  she  will  begin  the 
same  game  over  again." — "  The  Russians  of  To-day  "  1878. 

Beyond  the  further  or  stone  bridge,  nobly  conspicuous 
in  all  the  views  from  the  Kremlin,  we  see  the  snowy  mass 
and  golden  domes  of  "  the  New  Cathedral "  of  the  Saviour 
— Khram  Spassitelia,  which  was  begun  in  1812,  and  is 
only  just  finished.  It  is  by  far  the  finest  modern  church 
in  Russia.  Built  to  commemorate  the  deliverance  of 
Moscow  from  the  French,  it  bears  the  motto,  "  God  with 
us"  over  the  entrance.  In  the  interior,  typical  frescoes 
of  Joshua's  entrance  into  Palestine,  Deborah  encouraging 
Barak,  David  returning  from  the  slaughter  of  Goliath, 
and  the  coronation  of  Solomon,  alternate  with  scenes 
from  Russian  history.  The  views  of  the  interior  from  the 
upper  galleries  are  most  gorgeous  and  striking. 

"  The  services  of  Christmas  Day  are  almost  obscured  by  those  which 
celebrate  the  retreat  of  the  invaders  on  that  same  day,  the  25th  of 
December,  1812,  from  the  Russian  soil  ;  the  last  of  that  long  succes- 
sion of  national  thanksgivings,  which  begin  with  the  victory  of  the 
Don  and  the  flight  of  Tamerlane,  and  end  with  the  victory  of  Beresina 
and  the  flight  of  Napoleon.  '  How  art  thou  fallen  from  Heaven,  O 
Lucifer,  son  of  the  morning  ! ' — this  is  the  lesson  appointed  for  the 
service  of  that  day.  '  There  shall  be  signs  in  the  sun,  and  in  the 
moon,  and  in  the  stars,  and  upon  the  earth  distress  of  nations  with 
perplexity.'  '  Look  up  and  lift  up  your  heads,  for  your  redemption 
draweth  nigh ' — this  is  the  gospel  of  the  day.  '  Who  through  faith 
subdued  kingdoms,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies 
of  the  aliens  ' — this  is  the  epistle." — Stanley,  "  The  Russian  Church." 

Not  far  from  the  cathedral,  high  above  the  surrounding 
buildings,  rises  Dom  Pashkova,  formerly  the  magnificent 
residence  of  the  Pashkof  family,  and  the  finest  private 
residence  in  Moscow.  It  is  now  used  as  a  museum,  but 
contains  little  which  will  be  interesting  to  foreigners,  and 
the  collection  of  pictures  is  a  wretched  one  :  only  IvanofFs 
great  picture  of  the  Baptist  showing  Christ  to  his  Converts 
is  very  expressive  and  striking. 

The  museum,  which  comprises  almost  every  kind  of 


DOMESTIC  LIFE.  225 

object,  has  for  Russians  an  extraneous  interest,  as  showing 
the  extraordinary  progress  of  science  in  the  ancient  capital 
during  the  last  century,  especially  when  it  is  remembered 
that  as  late  as  the  time  of  Alexis  a  Dutch  surgeon  was 
condemned  to  be  burned  with  his  skeleton,  because  he  kept 
one  for  anatomical  purposes  ;  and  a  German  painter,  in 
whose  studio  a  skull  was  found,  was  with  difficulty  rescued 
from  the  same  fate. 

A  hundred  years  ago,  out  of  the  8,360  private  houses 
in  the  city,  6,400  were  the  property  of  the  nobles,  who 
mostly  passed  their  winters  in  town  ;  now  the  greater 
part  belong  to  merchants  and  manufacturers.  A  stranger 
calling  at  one  of  these  great  houses,  need  never  expect  to 
see  the  ladies  of  the  family  ;  sufficient  of  Eastern  custom 
still  prevails  to  prevent  such  an  indiscretion.  After  a 
time  the  master  of  the  house  will  appear,  and  then  tea 
and  slices  of  lemon  will  be  handed  round.  The  state- 
rooms are  never  inhabited.  According  to  our  ideas, 
domestic  life  of  less  than  the  highest  rank  in  old-fashioned 
Russian  houses  is  most  uncomfortable.  The  men  seldom 
take  off  more  than  their  shoes  and  coats  at  night,  and 
their  beds  are  only  covered  by  a  sheet  and  a  quilt.  For 
breakfast  a  cup  of  tea  is  considered  quite  sufficient  till 
noon.  Ablutions  consist  in  a  servant  pouring  a  little 
water  on  the  hands  :  indeed,  in  all  classes,  it  is  the  cus- 
tom to  throw  water  on  to  the  hands,  or  to  turn  it  on  from 
a  cock,  never  to  immerse  them. 

There  is  nothing  like  "  Sir  "  or  "  Madam  "  in  Russia  ; 
the  formula  is  to  address  a  person  by  his  Christian  name 
coupled  with  that  of  his  father,  as  thus  :  "  Augustus,  son 
of  Francis,"  "  Olga,  daughter  of  Ivan." 

Half  the  servants  in  the  great  houses  have  next  to 
nothing  to  do,  and  sleep  half  the  day.  Even  at  the  hotels 
a  number  of  idle  servants  are  kept,  whose  chief  duty 
seems  to  be  to  lounge  about  the  entrance  and  make  an 
effect,  with  circles  of  peacocks'  feathers  round  their  caps. 
The  Countess  Orloff,  residing  at  Moscow,  had  so  many 
servants  that  she  required  to  have  a  special  hospital  for 
them  in  case  of  sickness.  To  a  resident  who  is  in  the 
habit  of  visiting  in  Russian  houses,  the  fees  expected  by 
the  servants  at  the  New  Year  are  an  absurd  expense  ; 
where  you  are  an  habitual  visitor  the  servants  expect  five 


226  S  TUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

roubles,    and   where  you   have   only  called   once,   one 
rouble. 

"  The  nobles,  with  their  families  and  serfs,  lived  in  a  mixture  of 
Oriental  and  European  luxury.  The  peasant  worked  and  paid  a  poll- 
tax  to  his  lord,  which  the  latter,  with  his  family  and  domestic  slaves, 
generally  expended  in  Moscow.  The  greatest  luxury  was  displayed 
in  the  number  of  horses  and  servants  ;  and  the  Government  was  fre- 
quently obliged  to  issue  regulations  regarding  the  equipages,  decreeing 
who  might  drive  with  six,  four,  two  horses,  etc.  Of  the  luxury  dis- 
played in  servants  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  form  an  idea  ;  it  is  asserted 
that  in  the  larger  palaces  there  were  as  many  as  a  thousand,  or  more  ; 
even  nobles  of  minor  consequence  and  fortune  had  at  least  from  twenty 
to  thirty  ;  and  a  more  wretched,  lazy,  disorderly  crew  was  not  to  be 
found.  It  was  impossible  to  give  sufficient  occupation  to  this  crowd 
of  people,  and  it  was  often  ridiculous  to  see  the  way  in  which  the  house- 
hold duties  were  divided  amongst  them  ;  one  had  nothing  in  the  world 
to  do  but  to  sweep  a  flight  of  stairs,  another  had  only  to  fetch  water 
for  the  family  to  drink  at  dinner,  another  for  the  evening  tea.  The 
expense,  however,  of  their  maintenance  was  little  enough.  They  lived, 
like  Russian  peasants,  on  bread,  groats,  shtchi  (cabbage-soup)  and 
kvass  (sour  beer)  ;  their  dress  was  that  of  the  peasants,  and  they  lived 
in  the  isbas  (black  rooms),  which  are  always  found  in  Russian  court- 
yards."— Haxthausen,  "The  Russian  Empire" 


If  we  follow  the  lower  side  of  the  Bazar  from  the  Red 
Place,  we  may  soon  find  our  way  to  the  Romanoff  House — 
Palata  Boyar  Romanovykh — in  which  Feodor  Romanoff, 
afterward  known  as  the  Patriarch  Philaret,  lived,  and 
where  his  son  Michael,  afterward  Tsar,  was  born.  The 
house  was  restored  1856-59  :  indeed,  almost  entirely 
rebuilt  ;  and  is  chiefly  interesting  as  showing  the  charac- 
ter, even  to  minute  details,  of  an  ancient  Russian  boyar- 
house.  The  Romanoffs  were  merely  boyars  till  1613. 

We  may  return  hence  by  the  boulevard  on  the  outside 
of  the  Khitaigorod,  which  will  give  us  an  opportunity  of 
admiring  the  intensely  picturesque  towers  on  its  walls.  It 
was  in  one  of  them  that  a  Countess  Soltikoff  was  impris- 
oned for  many  years  with  great  severity,  on  account  of 
her  cruelty  to  her  slaves. 

We  re-enter  the  Khitaigorod  by  the  Sunday  gates — Voss- 
kreosenkaya  Verota — by  which  we  came  in  from  the  rail- 
way station.  On  the  outside  is  the  little  Chapel  of  the 
Virgin — "  the  Iberian  Mother," — Iverskaya  Chasovnia — 


THE  IBERIA N  MO THER.  22  J 

containing  an  icon  brought  from  Mount  Athos  in  the 
time  of  the  Tsar  Alexis,  which  has  ever  since  been  the 
Palladium  of  Moscow.  When  the  French  were  approach- 
ing the  town,  the  inhabitants  implored  to  be  led  against 
them  by  the  Iberian  Mother.  At  all  hours  of  the  day 
people  are  kneeling  in  the  chapel,  or  on  the  steps  and 
platform  in  front.  Every  passer-by  crosses  himself,  and 
innumerable  gifts  are  made  to  the  Virgin,  which  priests 
live  close  by  "to  take  care  of."  The  shrine  collects  at 
least  10,000  roubles  a  year,  a  large  portion  of  which  pays 
the  salary  of  the  Metropolitan  ;  and  "  that  the  income  of 
the  Metropolitan  may  not  be  less  "  is  the  excuse  given 
for  setting  a  representation  of  the  Iberian  Mother  in  her 
place  "  to  collect  her  revenues  "  during  her  absences. 
The  devotion  which  the  Emperor  pays  to  this  venerated 
icon,  always  lingering  at  her  shrine  on  his  way  from  the 
station  to  the  Kremlin,  is  a  matter  of  political  importance, 
a  real  bond  of  Attachment  between  him  and  his  people. 
The  Virgin  keeps  a  carriage  and  four,  and  pays  visits  ; 
and  her  carriage  may  always  be  recognized  in  the  streets 
by  the  passengers  uncovering,  and  even  the  coachman 
driving  without  his  hat.  When  a  new  house  is  built,  the 
owner  sends  to  ask  the  Iberian  Mother  to  come  and  give 
it  a  blessing.  She  will  also  attend  weddings  and  visit 
the  sick  for  a  gratuity  of  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  roubles  ; 
but  if  the  demand  for  her  company  is  too  frequent,  the 
answer  sent  is,  "  The  Mother  is  fatigued  to-day,  and  can 
not  come."  A  princess  who  coveted  the  largest  diamond 
worn  by  the  Mother,  and  who  extracted  it  with  her  teeth 
from  her  dress  while  kissing  it,  was  sent  to  Siberia  for 
life. 

"  The  Iberian  Mother  sits  in  the  half-darkened  background,  in  the 
midst  of  gold  and  pearls.  Like  all  Russian  saints,  she  has  a  dark- 
brown,  almost  black  complexion.  Round  her  head  she  has  a  net 
made  of  real  pearls.  On  one  shoulder  a  large  jewel  is  fastened,  shed- 
ding brightness  around,  as  if  a  butterfly  had  settled  there.  Such 
another  butterfly  rests  on  her  brow,  above  which  glitters  a  brilliant 
crown.  On  one  corner  of  the  picture,  on  a  silver  plate,  is  inscribed, 
•f)  fiTjTijp  Qeov  TUV  'Iftepuv.  Around  the  picture  are  gold  brocaded 
hangings,  to  which  angels'  heads,  painted  on  porcelain  with  silver 
wings,  are  sewed  ;  the  whole  is  lighted  up  by  thirteen  silver  lamps. 
Besides  the  picture  there  are  a  number  of  drawers  containing  wax 
tapers,  and  books  having  reference  to  her  history.  Her  hand  and  the 


228  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

foot  of  the  child  are  covered  with  dirt  from  constant  kissing  ;  it  rests 
like  a  little  crust  in  raised  points,  so  that  it  has  long  ceased  to  be  the 
hand  and  foot  that  have  been  kissed,  but  the  concrete  breath  of  the 
pious.  The  doors  of  the  chapel  stand  open  all  day  long,  and  all  are 
admitted  who  are  sorrowful  or  heavy-laden  ;  and  this  includes  here, 
as  everywhere  else,  a  great  number.  I  have  often  watched  with  amaze- 
ment the  multitudes  that  streamed  in,  testifying  to  the  inordinate 
power  which  this  picture  exercises  over  their  minds.  None  ever  pass, 
however  pressing  their  business,  without  bowing  or  crossing  them- 
selves. The  greater  part  enter,  kneel  devoutly  before  the  Mother, 
and  pray  with  fervent  sighs.  Here  come  the  peasants  early  in  the 
morning  before  going  to  market ;  they  lay  aside  their  burdens,  pray 
awhile,  and  then  go  on  their  way.  Hither  comes  the  merchant  on  the 
eve  of  a  new  speculation,  to  ask  the  assistance  of  the  angtl  hovering 
round  the  '  Mother.'  Hither  come  the  healthy  and  the  sick,  the 
wealthy,  and  those  who  would  become  so  ;  the  arriving  and  the 
departing  traveler,  the  fortunate  and  the  unfortunate,  the  noble  and 
the  beggar  !  All  pray,  thank,  supplicate,  sigh,  laud  and  pour  out 
their  hearts  before  'the  Mother.'  There  is  really  something  touch- 
ing in  seeing  the  most  sumptuously  clad  ladies,  glittering  with  jewels, 
leave  their  splendid  equipages  and  gallant  attendants,  and  prostrate 
themselves  in  the  dust  with  the  beggars.  On  a  holiday  I  once 
counted  two  hundred  passing  pilgrims,  kneeling  down  before  '  the 
Iberian  Mother.' 

"  I  had  almost  forgotten  to  mention  the  principal  point  ;  namely, 
that  there  is  a  very  little  scratch  in  the  right  cheek  of  the  picture,  that 
distills  blood.  This  wound  was  inflicted,  nobody  knows  when  or  how, 
by  Turks  or  Circassians,  and  exactly  this  it  is  by  which  the  miraculous 
powers  of  the  picture  were  proved  ;  for  scarcely  had  the  steel  pierced 
the  canvas  when  the  blood  trickled  from  the  painted  cheek.  In  every 
copy  the  painter  has  represented  this  wound,  with  a  few  delicate  drops 
of  blood.  As  I  was  speaking  of  this  and  other  miracles  to  a  monk,  he 
made,  to  my  imprudent  question  whether  miracles  were  now  daily 
wrought  by  it,  the  really  prudent  reply,  '  Why,  yes,  if  it  be  God's 
pleasure,  and  where  there  is  faith  ;  for  it  is  written  in  the  Bible  that 
faith  alone  blesses. '  "—Kohl. 


These  are  the  principal  sights  of  Moscow  ;  but  to 
obtain  some  knowledge  of  the  place  and  people  many 
rambles  must  be  made  beyond  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  Kremlin.  Much  is  uninteresting,  and  most  is  dusty 
and  ugly,  but  generally  some  curious  church  will  repay 
the  architect  or  artist  for  his  excursion,  and  the  people 
are  always  original.  The  ambassadors  of  Holstein  nar- 
rate that,  at  the  time  of  their  visit  (1633-1639),  there 
were  2,000  churches  and  chapels  in  Moscow  :  "  no  one 
but  hath  his  private  chapel,  nor  any  street  but  hath  many 
of  them." 


SIDE  STREETS  IN  MOSCOW.  229 

"  The  Mosco  itself  is  great :  I  take  the  whole  towne  to  bee  greater 
than  London  with  the  suburbes  :  but  it  is  very  rude,  and  standeth  with- 
out all  order.  Their  houses  are  all  of  timber,  very  dangerous  for 
fire. " — Richard  Chancelour,  1553. 

"  Moscow  is  in  everything  extraordinary  ;  as  well  in  disappointing 
expectation,  as  in  surpassing  it  ;  in  causing  wonder  and  derision, 
pleasure  and  regret.  One  might  imagine  all  the  states  in  Europe  and 
Asia  had  sent  a  building,  by  way  of  representative,  to  Moscow  :  and 
under  this  impression  the  eye  is  presented  with  deputies  from  all 
countries,  holding  congress  ;  timber-huts  from  regions  beyond  the 
Arctic  ;  plastered  palaces  from  Sweden  and  Denmark,  not  white- 
washed since  their  arrival  ;  painted  walls  from  the  Tirol  ;  mosques 
from  Constantinople  ;  Tartar  temples  from  Bucharia  ;  pagodas,  pavil- 
ions, and  verandas  from  China  ;  cabarets  from  Spain  ;  dungeons, 
prisons,  and  public  offices  from  France  ;  architectural  ruins  from 
Rome  ;  terraces  and  trellises  from  Naples  ;  and  warehouses  from 
Wapping." — Clarke 's  Travels. 

Many  of  the  so-called  streets  are  really  quiet  lanes, 
where  wooden  gates  open  into  courtyards  planted  with 
lilacs,  acacias,  and  senna,  and  peopled  by  a  multitude  of 
dogs,  goats,  or  poultry,  sometimes  even  a  cow.  Here 
children  are  brought  up  in  sunshine,  and  the  enjoyment 
of  a  rude,  quiet  country  life  ;  the  younger  women  do 
their  washing  at  great  troughs,  and  the  older  members 
of  the  family  sit  knitting  or  spinning  in  the  wooden 
veranda  or  gallery  which  surrounds  the  primitive  house. 

' '  The  streets  of  the  new  quarter  of  the  noblesse  are  not  broad,  but 
as  the  houses  are  all  low  and  stand  in  gardens  away  generally  from  the 
street-side,  and  as  there  is  not  much  traffic  among  them,  there  is  a 
freshness  and  brightness  of  the  air  and  a  repose  and  soothing  quiet 
which  make  a  saunter  along  them  particularly  pleasing.  Here  and 
there  children  are  about  in  the  gardens  or  domestics  are  lazily  occu- 
pied in  the  stable-yards  cleaning  the  harness  by  the  stable-door,  or 
lounging  about,  enjoying  the  far  niente  ;  while  the  noisy  hum  of  the 
busy  city  is  just  audible  beyond  the  precincts  of  the  quarter. 

' '  The  noble  builds  his  house,  in  town  or  country,  on  a  cottage 
plan.  He  raises  a  low  wall  of  stone  or  brick  of  some  four  feet  in 
height,  and  on  this  he  builds  a  wooden  house  of  one  story.  It  is 
long  and  wide  and  a  passage  or  hall  intersects  it  from  one  extremity 
to  the  other,  and  the  rooms  on  either  hand  open  on  to  this,  and  com- 
municate with  each  other.  Often,  too,  there  is  a  small  superstructure 
rising  from  the  center  of  this  wide  basement,  but  this  is  generally  only 
a  small  addition — in  fact,  a  small  cottage  built  in  the  center  of  the 
top  of  a  large  one.  Sometimes,  but  rarely,  the  upper  structure  is  as 
large  as  the  lower  one,  and  forms  a  complete  one-storied  house.  But 
beyond  this  no  truly  Russian  house  ever  rises.  A  broad  flight  of  steps  in 
the  center  of  the  front  leads  up  to  the  level  of  the  floor  of  the  build- 


230  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

ing  at  four  feet  from  the  ground,  and  a  veranda,  deep  and  shaded, 
runs  all  along  this  front,  and  sometimes  this  extends  down  the  two 
sides  to  the  back.  As  a  rule,  the  whole  building  is  of  wood." — G.  T. 
Lowth. 

In  one  of  the  suburbs  of  the  town  ready-made  portable 
wooden  houses  may  be  purchased  and  removed.  Owing 
to  the  number  of  wooden  buildings,  fires  are  still  very 
frequent,  though  much  less  so  than  formerly. 

"  There  hardly  passes  a  month  in  Moscow,  nay  not  a  week,  but 
some  place  or  another  takes  fire,  which,  meeting  with  what  is  very 
combustible,  does  in  a  moment  reduce  many  houses,  nay,  if  the  wind 
be  any  thing  high,  whole  streets  unto  ashes." — Ambassadors  of  Hoi- 
stein,  1633-1639. 

Many  of  the  churches  in  remote  parts  of  the  city  not 
only  have  golden  domes,  but  a  veil  of  golden  chains  falls 
over  them  from  the  cross  on  the  summit,  producing  a 
most  extraordinary  effect.  On  the  festivals  of  the  patron 
saints  of  the  churches,  the  streets  in  front  of  them  are 
strewn  with  fir-boughs.  The  great  drawback  to  walk- 
ing arises  from  the  horrors  of  the  pavement,  which  is 
usually  rough  beyond  imagination,  though  in  some,  but 
very  rare  cases,  the  street  or  footway  is  boarded  with 
planks  like  a  floor. 

In  all  rambles  among  the  people,  no  one  can  fail  to 
be  struck  with  their  good-humor  ;  however  much  they 
cheat  and  lie,  they  are  always  good-tempered.  They  are 
also  very  kind  hearted,  and  much  as  they  storm  at  and 
abuse  their  horses,  they  never  beat  them  ;  societies  for 
the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals  are  utterly  uncalled 
for  in  Russia.  Intemperance  is  much  more  rife  at 
Moscow  than  at  St.  Petersburg. 

"  There  is  a  natural  difference  between  the  St.  Petersburg  and 
Moscow  expectants  of  drink-money.  That  every  body  in  Russia 
demands  or  receives  drink-money  is  acknowledged,  but  the  St.  Peters- 
burger,  infested  with  European  culture,  lisps  out  in  honeyed  accents, 
'  Na  tchai  '  (tea),  while  the  Moscovian  honestly  asks  '  Na  vodku  ' 
(brandy).' — Haxthausen,  "  The  Russian  Empire." 

Yet  in  the  cabarets,  even  here,  drosky-drivers  may  be 
seen,  who  will  go  on  drinking  nothing  but  tea  from 
morning  to  night. 

If  convicted  of  stealing  or  cheating,  a  Russian  is  comi- 
cally little  ashamed  of  it  ;  it  is  quite  in  the  course  of 


THE  THIEF  MA  RKE  T.  231 

nature.  Not  far  from  the  Red  Place  is  "the  Thief  Mar- 
ket," where  every  thing  that  is  sold,  and  quite  openly,  is 
supposed  to  have  been  stolen.  People  who  have  lost  any 
thing  that  they  care  for  go  thither  to  look  for  their  lost 
goods. 

"  This  market  is  a  premium  on  ingenuity.  No  one  in  the  world  is 
more  ingenious  than  a  Russian  about  money.  .  .  .  One  day  a  man 
sold  a  watch  here.  Another  watched  the  sale,  marked  the  buyer,  and 
followed  him.  Passing  through  one  of  the  Kitai  gates,  he,  the  follower, 
met  a  soldier,  to  whom  he  said  a  few  words,  giving  him  a  rouble. 
They  both  came  up  to  the  purchaser  of  the  watch.  Said  the  man, 
addressing  the  purchaser,  '  Friend,  you  have  bought  a  watch  in  the 
market — it  is  mine  ;  it  was  stolen  from  me  last  night.'  *  How  do  I 
know  that  ? '  replied  the  other  ;  '  what  was  your  watch  like  ?  '  The 
man  described  the  watch,  adding,  '  Here,  show  it  to  my  friend,  this 
soldier  ;  he  knows  it  well.'  Of  course,  on  seeing  it,  the  soldier 
swore  fiercely  to  it  as  his  friend's  watch.  '  Now,'  said  the  man, 
'  you  give  me  up  my  watch,  or  I  follow  you  till  we  meet  a  policeman, 
and  I  will  tell  him  all  about  it.'  The  man  gave  up  the  watch,  and  the 
other  went  back  into  the  market  and  sold  it. 

' '  A  rich  fur  cloak  was  sold  in  this  market.  Two  men  marked  the 
buyer  go  and  pawn  it.  These  men  in  the  evening  disguised  themselves 
as  police,  and  going  to  the  pawnbroker,  a  Jew,  they  said,  '  you  have 
a  fur  cloak,' — describing  it — '  pawned  to  you  to-day  ;  we  are  in  search 
of  that  cloak  ;  it  was  stolen  some  days  since.'  '  Well,'  said  the  Jew, 
'  there  it  is.  I  lent  forty  roubles  on  it  ;  if  you  pay  me  that  sum,  there 
is  the  cloak.'  '  Pay  you  forty  roubles!  The  Government  does  not 
pay  for  the  recovery  of  stolen  goods.  If  you  do  not  give  it  up,  you 
must  come  before  the  authorities,  and  you  lose  your  license. '  So  the 
Jew,  being  frightened,  gave  up  the  cloak,  which  the  men,  their  dis- 
guise thrown  off,  brought  and  sold  in  the  Thief  Market  the  next  day. 

"One  day  a  servant  went  with  ten  roubles  to  the  market.  He 
returned  presently  in  great  alarm  to  say  that  he  had  dropped  his  purse 
with  the  roubles  in  it  in  the  street.  His  master  sent  at  once  to  the 
nearest  police-station.  On  his  way  there,  and  near  the  station,  a 
drosky  driver  saw  him  searching  about,  and  hearing  he  had  lost  his 
purse  the  driver  said,  '  I  saw  a  policeman  of  that  station,'  pointing  to 
it,  'pick  it  up.'  The  servant  taxed  the  policeman  with  having  the 
purse,  but  he  denied  it ;  but  the  driver  coming  up  repeated  his  asser- 
tion— 'I  saw  him  pick  it  up.'  The  policeman  being  threatened  with 
exposure,  at  last  produced  the  purse,  and  then  claimed  the  reward  of 
trover — one-third  of  the  property  found.  The  driver  and  the  police- 
man quarreled  over  the  matter,  and  then  it  appeared  that  both  of  them 
had  seen  the  servant  drop  the  purse,  and  the  policeman  had  refused  to 
go  shares  with  the  driver  in  its  contents,  and  hence  his  denunciation. 
'  This  is  not  a  case  of  trover  at  all,'  said  the  servant,  '  but  a  robbery, 
for  you  saw  me  drop  the  purse.'  However,  the  policeman  took  his 
three  roubles  as  trover,  and  returned  the  rest.  If  the  policeman  had 
but  consented  to  share  the  contents  with  the  driver,  it  is  probable  that 


232  S TUDIES  IN  R  USSIA. 

the  latter  would  have  gone  off  to  a  church,  and  on  his  knees  have 
thanked  the  Virgin  for  her  goodness  in  letting  the  servant  drop  his 
purse,  and  for  thus  sending  him  five  roubles." — G.  T.  Lowth. 

' '  Thieves  and  policemen  are  the  great  pests  of  Russian  towns,  but 
especially  policemen.  Russians  are  not  thieves  by  nature,  judging  by 
their  honesty  in  country  districts,  where  there  are  no  police  ;  but  once 
they  get  into  towns,  the  evil  example  set  them  by  official  persons,  and 
the  venal  connivance  they  can  obtain  from  the  police,  prove  too  tempt- 
ing. A  man  who  has  resided  some  time  in  Russia  even  doubts  whether 
the  notions  of  metim  and  tuum  are  comprehended  there  as  they  are  in 
other  countries.  If  you  pay  a  visit  and  leave  a  cloak  on  the  seat  of 
your  carriage  that  cloak  is  gone  when  you  come  out.  If  you  walk  out 
with  a  dog  unchained,  the  dog  vanishes  round  a  street-comer.  Shop- 
keepers are  afraid  to  place  articles  of  value  in  their  windows.  House- 
holders are  liable  to  have  their  horses  and  carriages  stolen  if  they  do 
not  keep  a  sufficient  number  of  stable  servants,  and  take  care  to  see 
before  going  to  bed  that  one  at  least  of  these  menials  is  sober.  A 
man  who  goes  out  for  a  night  stroll  unarmed  may  be  set  upon  within 
sight  of  a  drosky-stand  and  stripped  of  every  article  he  wears,  including 
shirt  and  small  clothes.  The  drosky  drivers  will  not  give  him  a 
helping  hand  ;  they  will  rather  start  off  altogether  in  a  panic  lest  they 
should  be  summoned  to  give  evidence  ;  as  for  the  police,  they  hurry  up 
afterward,  and  make  the  despoiled  man  pay  twice  the  value  of  the 
things  he  has  lost  in  fees  for  investigation." — "  The  Russians  of  To- 
day" 1878. 

This  market  was  once  the  "  Hair  Market,"  whither 
(1636)  "the  inhabitants  used  to  go  to  be  trimmed,  by 
which  means  this  place  came  to  be  so  covered  with  hair 
that  a  man  might  tread  as  softly  as  on  a  feather-bed." 

Though  theft  is  the  common  practice  of  life,  long 
custom  has  made  some  things  sacred  from  it.  No  Russian 
thief  ever  touches  the  tables  of  the  public  money- 
changers, and  no  one  would  ever  think  of  interfering 
with  the  cows  which  are  allowed  to  wander  alone  here, 
as  they  do  in  no  other  country,  and  are  considered  to  be 
under  the  protection  of  the  public.  Those  dwellers  in 
towns  who  keep  cows  will  open  their  gates  in  the  early 
morning  to  let  them  out.  Each  cow  knows  her  way  to 
a  certain  barrier  of  the  city,  where  other  cows  join  her. 
At  the  barrier  is  a  man  blowing  a  horn,  and  waiting  to 
conduct  them  to  a  pasture  outside  the  town  and  take  care 
of  them  through  the  day.  In  the  evening  he  brings  them 
back  as  far  as  the  barrier,  and  thence  each  cow  takes 
care  of  herself,  and  finds  her  own  way  home.  Moscow 
cows  will  often  walk  six  miles  to  their  pasture.1  Cows 

i  See  Lo\vth. 


SUHAREF  TOWER.  233 

are  very  cheap  here  :  if  they  are  of  a  northern  breed, 
about  twenty  roubles  is  a  good  price  for  a  cow ;  if  of  a 
southern  breed,  about  forty  roubles,  or  61. 

Strangers  will  probably  go  to  visit  the  Suharef  Tower 
— Suhareva  Bashnia — erected  by  Peter  the  Great  to 
mark  the  north-eastern  gate  of  the  town,  which  was  kept 
by  the  one  regiment  of  the  streltsi  which,  under  Colonel 
Suharef,  remained  faithful  when  the  rest  revolted,  and 
which  conducted  him  and  his  mother  for  safety  to  the 
Troitsa.  The  tower  is  now  used  as  a  reservoir,  and  its 
waters  supply  the  whole  of  Moscow. 

Near  the  foot  of  the  tower  a  very  remarkable  market 
is  held  every  Sunday  morning,  and  old  Russian  silver, 
curious  icons,  or  brass  bowls  and  dishes  may  be  obtained 
there  at  much  lower  prices  than  in  the  shops. 

Of  the  Moscow  tradesmen  the  carpenters  are  probably 
the  most  remarkable,  as  well  as  the  most  prosperous. 

"  The  plotniki  (carpenters)  are  a  very  characteristic  class.  As  the 
majority  of  buildings  in  Russia  are  of  wood,  and  are  almost  entirely 
built  of  it,  the  carpenters  are  in  number  and  importance  such  as  exist 
in  no  other  country.  Every  peasant  is  a  carpenter,  and  knows  how  to 
frame,  build,  and  fit  up  a  house.  The  plotniki  in  the  towns,  especially 
in  Moscow,  are  the  elite  of  the  ordinary  peasants,  and  not,  as  in  Ger- 
many, workmen  expressly  educated  to  the  business.  They  constitute 
a  complete  and  well-organized  community,  with  connecting  links  and 
sections,  household  arrangements  in  common,  and  leaders,  chosen  by 
themselves,  to  whom  implicit  obedience  is  shown. 

"  The  genuine  Russian  plotnik  properly  carries  no  other  implement 
than  an  ax  or  a  chisel  :  with  the  ax  in  his  belt  he  traverses  the  empire 
from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  seeks  and  finds  employment.  It  is 
incredible  what  he  can  do  with  his  ax  ;  all  the  manifold  instruments 
of  our  accomplished  artisans  are  quite  unknown  to  him,  and  still  his 
work  is  not  inferior,  nay,  is  often  better  adapted  to  the  purpose  than 
that  of  any  of  our  highly  educated  workmen.  It  is  often  difficult  to 
believe  that  such  charming-  decorations  and  carvings  as  are  found  on 
Russian  ships  and  houses  can  have  been  produced  with  a  clumsy  ax 
and  common  chisel.  Lycurgus  prohibited  the  Spartans  from  employing 
other  tools  than  the  ax  and  the  saw,  in  order  to  avoid  all  elegance  as 
effeminate  and  injurious  to  morals.  The  Russian  plotnik  could  have 
shown  him  that  the  natural  inclination  for  ornament,  neatness,  and 
decoration  is  not  destroyed  by  rendering  difficult  the  means  of  attaining 
them." — Haxthatisen,  "  The  Russian  Empire." 

The  comical  arts  of  the  peripatetic  street  vendors  are 
well  worth  observation. 


234  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

"  I  often  loitered  near  one  of  the  ice-vendors  to  divert  myself  with 
his  acting,  and  one  morning  I  took  the  trouble  of  writing  down  some 
of  the  eloquence  with  which  he  sought  to  allure  his  customers. 

"  '  Moye  potshtenie  !'  (your  most  obedient  servant,  sir),  he  called 
out  to  a  gentleman  at  a  little  distance  who  was  not  thinking  of  him  and 
his  ice,  '  what  is  your  pleasure  ?  ready  directly  !  Oh  !  how  hot  it  is 
to-day  ;  one  wants  something  to  cool  one !  How  !  you  will  take 
vanilla  ?  What — nothing  !  I  am  very,  very  sorry  !  Moroshniye, 
moroshniye !  sami  svasheye  !  ice,  ice,  the  freshest,  the  coolest. 
Chocolate,  vanilla,  coffee,  rose-ice,  all  of  the  best:  who  tastes  my  ex- 
quisite ice — my  flower-bloom  ?  '  (so  he  called  one  particular  ice).  '  My 
ice  is  like  a  poppy  ;  come,  my  loveliest  girl,  will  you  taste  my  poppy 
ice  ? '  (The  girls  of  Little  Russia  wear  in  spring  a  number  of  showy 
poppies  in  their  hair.)  '  Taste  it  only  !  It  is  sweeter  than  the  kiss 
of  your  bridegroom.  You  like  it  mixed,  perhaps  ?  Good,  dearest, 
mixed  it  shall  be,  like  your  cheeks,  red  and  white — will  you  please  to 
taste  ? ' 

"  And  hereupon  he  hands  the  ice  temptingly  mingled  in  a  graceful 
tapering  mass  of  red  and  white.  The  girl  looks  embarrassed,  but  ends 
by  taking  the  wooden  spoon  he  flourishes  in  his  right  hand,  and  eating 
the  offered  delicacy.  '  Zvatni  zvetot. '  '  Blooming  flower,  poppy 
bloom,  vanilla  blossom,  coffee  blossom  !  Who  will  take  my .  most 
delicious  ice  ?  See  here,  my  good  old  father,  red,  red  as  a  rose,  and 
yellow  as  gold.  Ah  !  you  simpleton,  give  your  copper  for  my  gold.' 
(Here  he  puts  a  little  in  a  glass  and  holds  it  in  the  sun.)  '  Ah  !  how 
superb  !  How  I  should  like  to  eat  it  myself  !  But  I  am  not  rich 
enough.  I  can't  afford  it.  Come,  father,  buy  some  of  it,  and  then  I 
can  have  a  taste.  There,  take  it,  father,  and  much  good  may  it  do 
you  !  For  your  little  son  as  well  ?  Moroshniye  !  Ugh,  how  hot  it 
is!  I  am  half  melted.  I  must  have  some  ice.'  He  then  tastes  a 
little,  turns  up  his  eyes,  and  raises  his  shoulders  as  if  it  were  pure  am- 
brosia. '  Ha  !  good  mother,  what  are  you  gaping  at  ?  Does  it  make 
your  mouth  water  ?  Truly  I  can  not  bear  to  see  you  there  melting  in 
the  sun  before  my  eyes.  There,  try  it.'  And  he  holds  out  his 
wooden  spoon  with  a  sample.  The  old  woman  laughs,  must  taste,  and 
can  not  get  off  under  eight  kopecks.  And  then  the  tempter  begins 
his  strain  again,  which  is  scarcely  ended  when  the  sun  has  already 
ended  his  course  for  the  day. '  " — Kohl. 


Moscow  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  headquarters  of 
the  many  strange  religious  sects  which  have  diverged 
from  the  Russian  Church,  of  which  there  are  three  million 
members,  besides  "  Old  Believers,"  who  number  seven 
millions.  Archbishop  Dimitri,  of  Rostof,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eighteenth  century,  wrote  a  book  upon  these 
sects,  of  which  he  mentions  no  less  than  two  hundred. 
Many  of  these,  however,  are  now  extinct,  Among  the 


RELIGIOUS  SECTS.  235 

strangest  of  the  newer  sects  which  exist  here  are  the 
Begslovestnie  or  dumb  !  Any  one  who  joins  them 
becomes  dumb  from  that  moment,  and  nothing  will  ever 
force  a  syllable  from  his  lips.  Pestel,  the  governor- 
general  of  Siberia  under  Catherine  II.,  tortured  them  in 
the  most  horrible  manner,  but  they  never  uttered  a  sound.1 
Almost  equally  silent  are  the  Sect  of  the  Beatified 
Redeemer,  who  live  constantly  absorbed  in  the  contem- 
plation of  the  holy  portrait,  which  is  supposed  to  produce 
heavenly  bliss  and  ecstasy.  The  Sect  of  the  Subotniki 
(Sabbatarians),  commonly  regarded  as  wizards,  was  begun 
at  Novogorod  as  early  as  1470,  under  the  Jew  Zacharias, 
of  Kieff,  who  persuaded  certain  priests  that  the -law  of 
Moses  was  the  only  Divine  law. 

The  jewelers  of  Moscow  mostly  belong  to  the  strange 
sect  of  the  Skoptzi,  who  believe  that  Christ  never  died, 
but  wanders  constantly,  without  sex,  and  in  different 
forms,  over  the  earth.  Many  of  them  believe  that  he 
assumes  the  form  of  Peter  III.,  whom  they  also  declare 
never  to  have  died  as  recorded  (in  the  Catherine  II.  revo- 
lution), but  to  have  fled  to  Irkutsk,  and  they  all  make  a 
point  of  possessing  his  portrait,  with  a  black  beard  and  a 
blue  caftan  trimmed  with  fur.  Soon,  they  say,  he  will 
come  again,  and  sound  the  great  bell  of  the  Uspenski 
Sobor,  that  his  disciples,  the  Skoptzi,  may  assemble 
around  him,  and  inaugurate  their  everlasting  empire  over 
the  world.  They  do  not  believe  in  the  resurrection  of 
the  body,  or  recognize  Sunday  ;  but  they  have  a  mystic 
communion  through  bread,  sanctified  by  the  grave  of  one 
of  their  saints,  of  which  each  person  eats  a  morsel  on 
Easter  Day.  The  Skoptzi  are  all  eunuchs,  but  they  adopt 
children.  They  call  themselves  Korablik,  which  signifies 
a  small  vessel  tossed  by  the  waves.  At  their  meetings  they 
sing  such  songs  as — 

"  Hold  fast,  ye  mariners  ; 
Let  not  the  ship  perish  in  the  storm  ! 
The  Holy  Spirit  is  with  us  ! 
Fear  not  the  breakers,  fear  not  the  storm  ! 
Our  Father  and  Christ  is  with  us  ! 
His  mother,  Akulina  Ivanovna,  is  with  us  ! 
He  will  come  !     He  will  appear  ! 

i  Haxthausen. 


236  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

He  will  sound  the  great  bell  of  Uspenski ! 

He  will  collect  all  true  believers  together  ! 

He  will  plant  masts  that  shall  not  fall  ! 

He  will  set  sails  that  shall  not  be  rent  ! 

He  will  give  us  a  rudder  that  will  steer  us  safely  ! 

He  is  near  us,  He  is  with  us  ! 

He  casts  His  anchor  in  a  safe  harbor  ! 

We  are  landed  !     We  are  landed  ! 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  with  us  ! 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  among  us  ! 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  in  us  ! "  l 

But  the  strangest  of  all  the  sects  which  prevail  in  Mos- 
cow is  that  of  the  Khlistovstchina — the  Jumpers  or 
Flagellators,  who  meet  to  dance  and  scourge  themselves, 
after  which  convulsions  often  ensue,  in  which  "  the  spirit 
moves  them  and  they  begin  to  prophesy."  Their  meet- 
ings are  said  to  be  followed  by  terrible  orgies. 

"  On  one  day  in  the  year  the  men,  after  their  mad  jumping  and 
stamping,  sink  down  about  midnight  upon  benches,  which  are  placed 
around,  and  the  women  fall  under  the  benches  ;  suddenly  all  the  lights 
are  extinguished,  and  horrible  orgies  commence.  They  call  this 
svatni  grekh — sins  committed  in  running  round  together.  A  secretary 
of  mine  in  Moscow,  who  had  opportunities  of  becoming  acquainted 
with  members  of  the  sect,  described  the  Klisti  or  Klistovstchina  as  by 
no  means  harmless,  but  an  extremely  cruel  sect.  Among  other  things, 
he  related  that  on  Easter  night  theSkoptzi  and  Klisti  all  assemble  for 
a  great  solemnity,  the  worship  of  the  Mother  of  God.  A  virgin  fifteen 
years  of  age,  whom  they  have  induced  to  act  the  part  by  tempting 
promises,  is  bound,  and  placed  in  a  tub  of  warm  water  :  some  old 
women  come  and  first  make  a  large  incision  in  the  left  breast,  then  cut 
it  off,  and  staunch  the  blood  in  a  wonderfully  short  time.  During  the 
operation  a  mystical  picture  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  put  into  the  victim's 
hand,  in  order  that  she  may  be  absorbed  in  regarding  it.  The  breast 
which  has  been  removed  is  laid  upon  a  plate,  and  cut  into  small  pieces, 
which  are  eaten  by  all  the  members  of  the  sect  present  :  the  girl  in 
the  tub  is  then  placed  upon  an  altar  which  stands  near,  and  the  whole 
congregation  dance  wildly  round  it,  singing  at  the  same  time — 

Po  pliaskhom  !  Up  and  dance  ! 

Po  gorakhom  !  Up  and  jump  ! 

Na  Sionskvyn  Goru  !      Toward  Sion's  hill  ! 

The  jumping  grows  wilder  and  wilder  ;  at  last  all  the  lights  are  sud- 
denly extinguished,  and  the  orgies  above  described  commence.  My 
secretary  had  become  acquainted  with  several  of  these  girls,  who  were 
always  afterward  regarded  as  sacred,  and  said  that  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  or  twenty  they  looked  quite  like  women  of  fifty  or  sixty. 

i  See  Haxthausen. 


THE  RASKOLNIKS.  237 

They  generally  died  before  their  thirtieth  year  ;  one  of  them,  how- 
ever, had  married  and  had  two  children." — Haxthausen,  "  The 
Russian  Empire" 

Besides  these  minor  sects,  Moscow  is  the  headquarters 
of  the  Raskolniks,1  the  old  regiments,  who  maintain  the 
forms  and  observances  of  the  ancient  Russian  Church  in 
opposition  to  the  reforms  of  Nikon,  and  still  more  to 
those  of  Peter  the  Great. 

"  They  assert  that  with  Peter  I.  commenced  the  dominion  of  Anti- 
christ over  the  world,  since  which  time  there  have  been  no  real  bishops 
and  priests,  this  being  the  night  before  the  coming  of  our  Lord,  in 
which  sacraments  are  no  longer  necessary,  except  baptism,  which 
every  believing  father  of  a  family  can  administer.  Is  it  not  written 
in  the  Bible,  they  say,  that  Antichrist  would  change  the  times  and 
seasons  ;  and  did  not  Peter  I.  transpose  the  New  Year  from  the  1st 
of  September  to  the  first  of  January  ?  Did  he  not  abolish  the  desig- 
nation of  time  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and  adopt  that  of  the 
Latin  heretics,  who  count  the  years  from  the  birth  of  Christ  ?  Is  it 
not  written  that  Antichrist  will  demand  gold  and  payment  from  the 
dead,  and  did  not  Peter  I.  introduce  this  custom  in  the  Revisions? 
It  was  perfect  blasphemy  to  tax  the  soul — the  immortal  breath  of  God 
— instead  of  worldly  possessions." — Haxthausen. 

Of  the  ancient  faith,  the  beard  "  commanded  by  the 
Levitical  law,"  was  one  of  the  most  distinguishing  char- 
acteristics, and  to  this  day  no  Raskolnik  has  a  shaven 
chin.  In  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Council  of  Mos- 
cow pronounced  that  to  shave  a  beard  "  was  a  sin  which 
even  the  blood  of  martyrs  could  not  expiate."  a  It  was 
petitioned  against  a  patriarch,  whom  Peter  the  Great 
wished  to  appoint  in  1690,  that  "  his  beard  was  not  long 
enough  for  a  patriarch."  Peasants  forced  to  cut  off  their 
beards  used  to  keep  them  to  be  buried  with  them,  for 
fear  "  they  should  not  be  recognized  at  the  gates  of  Para- 
dise ;  "  though  for  the  actual  beard  a  coin  was  afterwards 
substituted,  bearing  a  face,  with  mustache  and  beard. 
The  Raskolniks,  who  consider  it  mortal  sin  to  bless  with 
three  fingers  instead  of  two,3  consider  it  equally  mortal 

i  From  ras,  asunder,  and  kolot,  to  split.  2  Strahl,  282. 

3  Kohl  gives  an  amusing  story  illustrating  the  importance  of  the  three  fingers  to 
the  Russian  mind.  "  I  had  been  speaking  of  different  subjects  with  an  old  Greek 
fisherman  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  came  at  last  to  the  differences  in 
religious  belief.  After  sundry  remarks  on  the  subject,  my  companion  expressed  his 
sentiment  thus  :  '  The  only  true  Christians  are  those  of  the  Greek  Church.  That 
is  evident.  For  what  is  Christianity  ?  It  is  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  the  three  fingers 
mean  the  Holy  Trinity.  We  make  the  cross  in  the  only  right  wav  with  three  fingers. 


238  STUDIES  IX  R USS1A. 

sin  to  pronounce  the  name  of  Jesus  in  three  syllables 
instead  of  two.  The  monks  of  Solovetsk  protested  that 
the  change  from  Isus  to  lisus  was  a  sin  too  fearful  even 
to  be  thought  of,  and  for  seven  years  successfully  defied 
patriarch,  council,  and  tsar.  The  course  of  the  sun,  say 
the  Raskolniks,  indicates  sufficiently  that  the  course  of 
processions  must  be  from  left  to  right.  To  eat  potatoes 
is  heresy,  for  are  they  not  the  forbidden  fruit  of  para- 
dise ?  Tobacco  is  even  more  abominable.  Peter  the 
Great  asked  them  if  smoking  was  worse  than  brandy. 
"  Certainly,"  was  the  answer,  "  for  is  it  not  written  that 
not  that  which  goeth  into  a  man,  but  that  which  cometh 
out,  defileth  him  ?  " 

Every  thing  ecclesiastical  that  is  "  old,"  that  is,  before 
the  time  of  the  reformer  Nikon,  is  sacred  to  the  Raskol- 
niks. They  are  devoted  to  the  Tsar,  but  it  is  to  the  Tsar 
with  whom  they  are  familiar  in  ancient  pictures,  not  to 
the  existing  emperor. 

"  One  of  the  Starovertzi,  who  refuse  an  oath,  was  taken  as  a  re- 
cruit ;  when  called  upon  to  swear  fidelity  to  his  colors,  he  refused. 
4  Why  will  you  not  ? '  '  My  religion  forbids  me,'  was  the  reply,  '  but 
even  were  it  allowed,  I  would  not  take  the  oath  to  him  whom  you  call 
Emperor  ;  I  would  only  do  to  the  real,  the  White  Tsar.  Our  books 
and  pictures  contain  his  true  likeness,  with  the  crown  upon  his  head, 
the  scepter  and  imperial  globe  in  his  hands,  and  clothed  in  a  long 
gold  robe  ;  but  this  Emperor  wears  a  hat  and  uniform,  and  has  a 
sword  at  his  side  like  a  common  soldier  ;  he  is  like  ourselves  ;  he  is 
not  the  true  Tsar.'  The  enforcement  of  the  oath  was  afterward 
abandoned  in  the  case  of  these  people. " — Haxthausen,  "  77ie  Riusian 
Empire  " 

All  the  reforms  of  Nikon  and  the  edicts  of  Peter  the 
Great  appear  as  devices  of  Satan  to  Raskolniks,  most  of 
all  the  new  calendar,  for  the  world  could  not  have  been 
created  in  January,  as  Eve  would  not  have  found  an 
apple  to  eat  at  that  season  !  Persecuted  in  Russia  by 
the  Orthodox  Church  (which  followed  Nikon  and  Peter), 
the  nonconformists  fled  to  other  countries.  Many  took 
refuge  in  the  forests  of  the  north  ;  others,  when  they 

The  Lutherans  don't  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  at  all.  I  won't  say  that  they  are 
heathens  exactly,  but  there  is  very  little  Christianity  in  them.  And  the  Catholics, 
my  God  ! ' — and  here  he  burst  into  an  immoderate  fit  of  laughter — '  they  make  the 
cross  with  thumps  and  punches  in  the  ribs  !  '  He  could  hardly  recover  himself 
from  the  excess  of  his  mirth  at  the  folly  of  the  wrong-believing  Catholics." — 
Travels  in  Russia. 


THE  RASKOLNIKS.  239 

were  unable  to  escape,  set  fire  to  their  houses  and  monas- 
teries, and  perished  in  the  flames.  Two  thousand  seven 
hundred  died  thus  in  1687  in  the  Paleostrofski  monas- 
tery. 

Under  Catherine  II.  the  Raskolniks  were  permitted  to 
return  to  their  homes,  and  since  her  time  they  have  been 
allowed  to  follow  their  own  devices,  on  condition  of  their 
never  failing  to  contribute  to  the  income  of  the  regular 
parish  priests,  just  as  if  they  belonged  to  the  faithful.  In 
later  times  the  schismatics  have  divided  into  the  Staro- 
obriadtsi,  or  Old  Ritualists,  who  retain  the  ancient  eccle- 
siastical observances,  employing  priests,  and,  as  soon  as 
they  can  procure  them,  bishops,  who  have  formally  re- 
nounced the  Nikonian  errors  ;  and  the  Bez-popoftsi,  or 
priestless  people,  who  maintain  that  as  the  priests  of 
schismatics  are  not  duly  consecrated,  their  sacraments 
have  ceased  to  be  efficacious.  Eventually  these  became 
subdivided  into  the  Pomortsi,  or  Dwellers  by  the  Sea 
(i.e.  the  White  Sea),  who  accepted  the  Tsar,  and  prayed 
for  him,  and  paid  their  taxes  ;  and  the  utterly  irrecon- 
cilable Theodosians,  who  took  their  name  from  a  fanatic 
peasant  leader,  and  refused  to  regard  the  Tsar  as  other 
than  Antichrist.  With  these,  as  they  had  no  consecrated 
priests,  marriage  was  long  considered  impossible.  Their 
strangest  representatives  were  the  Stranniki,  or  Wander- 
ers, who  consider  they  must  flee  from  the  wrath  to  -come 
by  being  homeless  and  houseless,  and  especially  by  dying 
in  the  open  air. 

Those  who  are  interested  in  the  Russian  dissenters 
will  not  fail  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  Transfiguration  Ceme- 
tery— Preobrajesnkoye  Kladbistche — and  its  neighbor- 
hood.1 

"  There  are  some  hundreds  of  the  Starovers  or  dissenters  at 
Moscow,  who,  since  the  reign  of  Catherine  II.,  have  intrenched 
themselves  in  two  or  three  large  settlements  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
city.  Let  us  follow  them  thither.  A  visit  to  one  such  community 
will  give  us  an  adequate  impression  of  all.  Beyond  the  outer- 
most barrier  of  Moscow  we  find  ourselves  on  the  edge  of  the  prime- 
val forest,  which  here  comes  up  almost  to  the  town  itself.  An  intri- 

i  A  careful  bargain  should  always  be  made  with  a  drosky  driver  ;  and  the  Mos- 
cow droskys  are  such  a  tight  fit  for  two,  that  the  best  way  is  to  give  a  signal  for 
both  to  sit  down  at  the  same  moment  ;  there  is  at  least  the  advantage  that  it  would 
be  impossible  for  one  to  be  shaken  out  without  the  other.  These  difficulties  con- 
quered, there  are  many  .drives  to  be  taken. 


240  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

cate  road  through  lanes  and  gullies,  worthy  of  the  days  before  the 
deluge  of  Peter's  changes,  brings  us  to  a  wild,  scattered  village,  the 
village  of  Preobajensk,  or  the  'Transfiguration.'  It  is  celebrated  as 
the  spot  to  which  Peter  in  his  youth  withdrew  from  Moscow,  and 
formed  out  of  his  companions  the  nucleus  of  what  has  since  become 
the  Imperial  Guard,  who  from  this  origin  are  called  the  Preobajensky 
regiment.  But  there  is  no  vestige  of  Peter  or  the  Imperial  Guard  in 
what  now  remains.  A  straggling  lake  extends  itself  right  and  left 
into  the  village,  in  which  the  Raskolniks  baptize  those  who  come  over 
to  them  from  the  Established  Church.  On  each  side  of  it  rise,  out  of 
the  humble  wooden  cottages,  two  large  silk  factories,  the  property  of 
the  chief  among  the  dissenters  ;  for  they  number  among  their 
members  many  merchants  and  manufacturers,  and  (as  among  the 
Quakers)  there  is  a  strong  community  of  commercial  interests  in 
the  sect,  which  contributes  much  to  its  vitality,  and  maintains  the 
general  respectability  of  the  whole  body.  Hard  by,  within  the 
walls  as  of  a  fortress,  two  vast  inclosures  appear.  These  are  their 
two  main  establishments — one  for  men,  the  other  for  women.  For  in 
this  respect  also  they  exhibit  a  type  of  the  ancient  Russian  life,  in 
which  the  seclusion  of  the  women  was  almost  Oriental  in  its  character. 
Within  the  establishment  for  men  stand  two  buildings  apart.  The 
first  is  a  church  belonging  to  the  moderate  section  of  the  Starovers  ; 
those  namely  who  retain  still  so  much  regard  for  the  Established  Church 
as  to  be  willing  to  receive  from  them  ordained  priests.  The  clergy 
who  seceded  in  the  original  movement  of  course  soon  died  out,  and 
henceforth  the  only  way  of  supplying  the  want  was  by  availing  them- 
selves of  priests  expelled  from  the  Established  Church  for  misconduct, 
and  of  late  years  they  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  secure  from  the 
metropolitan  of  the  Orthodox  Greeks  in  Hungary  the  loan  of  a  bishop, 
who  has  continued  to  them  a  succession  of  new  priests,  But  there  has 
also  been  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Government  and  the  clergy  to 
incorporate  them  to  a  certain  extent,  by  allowing  them  a  regular  priest 
of  the  Establishment,  who  is  permitted  to  conform  to  their  usages  ;  and 
not  long  ago  a  considerable  step  was  taken  by  the  metropolitan,  who 
agreed  to  consecrate  a  part  of  the  church  never  consecrated  before, 
himself  in  some  particulars,  as  in  the  order  of  the  procession,  adopting 
their  peculiar  customs.  Even  to  this  church  of  Occasional  Conform- 
ists, as  they  may  be  called,  the  studious  exclusion  of  all  novelty  gives 
an  antique  appearance,  the  more  remarkable  from  its  being  in  fact  so 
new.  Built  in  the  reign  of  Catherine  II. ,  it  yet  has  not  a  single  feature 
that  is  not  either  old,  or  an  exact  copy  of  what  was  old.  The  long, 
meager  figures  of  the  saints,  the  ancient  form  of  benediction,  the  elab- 
orately minute  representations  of  the  sacred  history,  most  of  them 
collected  by  richer  dissenters  from  family  treasures  or  dissolved  con- 
vents, are  highly  characteristic  of  the //?<.$•  quam  restoration  of  medieval 
times.  The  chant,  too,  at  once  carries  one  back  two  hundred  years. 
The  church  resounds,  not  with  the  melodious  notes  of  modern  Russian 
music,  but  with  the  nasal,  almost  puritanical,  screech  which  prevailed 
before  the  time  of  Nikon,  which  is  believed  by  them  to  be  the  '  sole 
orthodox,  harmonious,  and  angelical  chant.'  But  the  principle  of  the 
Old  Believers  admits  of  a  more  significant  development.  Within  a 
stone's-throw  of  the  church  which  I  have  just  described  is  a  second 


THE  STAROVERTZI.  241 

building,  nominally  an  almshouse  or  hospital  for  aged  dissenters,  but, 
in  fact,  a  refuge  for  the  more  extreme  members  of  the  sect,  who,  in 
their  excessive  wrath  against  the  Reformed  Establishment,  have 
declined  to  receive  even  runaway  priests  from  its  altars,  and  yet,  in 
their  excessive  adherence  to  traditional  usage,  have  not  ventured  to 
consecrate  any  for  themselves.  As  the  moderate  Raskolniks  are  called 
'  Popof chins'  or  'those  with  clergy,'  so  these  are  called  '  Bezpo- 
pofchins'  or  '  those  without  clergy.'  It  is  a  division  analogous  to  that 
of  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  in  the  German,  of  the  Presbyterians 
and  Independents  in  the  English  Reformation.  Accordingly,  the 
service  of  the  extreme  dissenters  is  conducted  by  laymen,  just  so  far 
as,  and  no  further  than,  could  be  performed  without  an  altar  and  with- 
out a 'priest.  Their  only  link  with  the  National  Church  consists  in 
their  retention  of  a  few  particles  of  consecrated  oil,  and  of  consecrated 
elements,  preserved  by  constant  dilution.  The  approaches  of  their 
milder  brethren  to  the  Establishment  they  regard,  naturally,  as  a  base 
compromise  with  Babylon.  In  many  respects  the  ritual  of  the  two 
sects  is  the  same.  In  both  buildings  alike  we  see  the  same  gigantic 
faces,  the  same  antique  forms.  But,  unlike  the  chapel  of  the  Popof- 
chins,  or  any  church  of  the  Establishment,  the  screen  on  which  these 
pictures  hang,  the  iconostasis,  is  not  a  partition  opening  into  a  sanc- 
tuary beyond,  but  is  the  abrupt  and  undisguised  termination  of  the 
church  itself.  You  advance,  thinking  to  pass,  as  in  the  ordinary 
churches,  through  the  painted  screen  to  the  altar,  and  you  find  that  you 
are  stopped  by  a  dead  wall.  In  front  of  this  wall — this  screen  which 
is  not  a  screen — an  aged  layman,  with  a  long  sectarian  beard,  chanted 
in  a  cracked  voice  such  fragments  of  the  service  as  are  usually  per- 
formed by  the  deacon  ;  and  from  the  body  of  the  church  a  few  scat- 
tered worshipers  screamed  out  the  responses,  bowing  the  head  and 
signing  the  cross  in  their  peculiar  way  as  distinctly  as  so  slight  a  differ- 
ence will  admit.  That  scanty  congregation,  venerable  from  its  very 
eccentricity,  that  worship  in  the  dim  light  of  the  truncated  church, 
before  the  vacant  wall  which  must  constantly  remind  them  of  the  loss 
of  the  very  part  of  the  ceremonial  which  they  consider  most  essential, 
is  the  signal  of  all  triumphs  of  the  letter  that  kills  over  the  spirit  that 
quickens  ;  a  truly  Judaic  faith,  united  with  a  truly  Judaic  narrowness, 
such  as  no  Western  nation  could  hope  to  produce.  It  shows  us  the 
legitimate  conclusion  of  those  who  turn  either  forms,  or  the  rejection 
of  forms,  into  principles,  and  of  carrying  out  principles  so  engendered 
to  their  full  length." — Stanley,  "The  Eastern  Church" 

The  Starovertzi  are  in  general  more  simple,  sober,  and 
moral  than  other  Russian  peasants.  They  can  usually 
read  and  write,  but  they  only  know  the  old  Slavonic  let- 
ters, for  they  regard  modern  Russian  writing  as  heretical. 
They  know  the  Bible  almost  by  heart,  and  are  fond  of 
theological  subtleties.  In  a  dialogue  with  a  Starovertz, 
he  thus  gave  his  reasons  for  his  opinions  :— 

"  It  is  clear  from  the  New  Testament  that  whatever  in  the  law  of 


242  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

Moses  has  not  been  expressly  abolished  by  Christ  continues  binding 
upon  Christians. 

"  But  the  Ten  Commandments  incontestably  belong  to  those  laws 
which  are  retained  ;  and  it  stands  written  in  the  same  nineteenth  chap- 
ter of  Leviticus  in  which  the  Ten  Commandments  are  expounded — 
'  Ye  shall  not  round  the  corners  of  your  heads,  neither  shalt  thou  mar 
the  corners  of  thy  beard.'  "  J 

Alexander  I.  protected  and  showed  kindness  to  the 
Raskolniks,  and  since  his  time  they  have  enjoyed  religious 
freedom. 

The  father  of  Peter's  famous  favorite  Mentchikoff,  who 
had  served  in  the  Guard,  is  buried,  with  his  wife,  at  Preo- 
brajenskoye. 

In  going  to  Preobrajenskoye  the  German  Suburb  is 
passed  through,  where  the  young  Duke  John  of  Denmark, 
who  died  when  he  came  to  be  married  to  the  beautiful 
and  unfortunate  Xenie,  daughter  of  Boris  Godunof,  was 
buried  in  the  church.  His  body  was  afterward  moved  to 
Roskilde  in  Denmark.  It  was  here  that  Peter  the  Great 
used  so  often  to  dine  and  drink,  act  best  man  at  the  mar- 
riages of  the  merchants'  daughters,  and  stand  godfather 
to  their  children.  In  this  suburb,  also,  was  the  home  of 
his  mistress,  Anna  Mons,  daughter  of  a  German  jeweler. 
Preobrajenskoye  was  the  favorite  residence  of  Peter,  and 
from  that  place  of  prophetic  name  (Transformation)2  he 
subdued  the  power  of  Sophia,  and  seized  the  reins  of 
government.  He  established  here  the  secret  "  Chancery 
of  Preobrajenskoye,"  a  torture-chamber  outrivaling  the 
iniquities  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition;  and,  apart  from 
this,  the  life  which  he  led  here,  and  the  earliest  of  his 
so-called  "  reforms  "  dated  from  hence,  had,  by  offending 
the  national  prejudices,  made  him  endless  enemies. 

"  Des  pretres  enseignaient  deja  que  1'Antechrist  etait  ne  ;  il  etait 
dit  en  effet  que  1'Antechrist  naitrait  d'une  adultere  ;  or,  Pierre  etait 
fils  de  la  seconde  e'pouse  d'Alexis  ;  sa  mere  Natalie  etait  la  fausse 
vierge,  la  femme  adultere  des  propheties.  Les  charges  de  plus  en  plus 
Ipurdes  qui  pesaient  sur  le  peuple  etaient  un  autre  signe  que  les  temps 
etaient  venus.  D'autres,  re'voltes  du  gout  que  manifestait  le  tsar  pour 
les  habits  allemands,  les  langues  etrangeres,  les  aventuriers  du  dehors, 
affirmaient  qu'il  n'etait  pas  le  fils  d'Alexis,  mais  celui  de  Lefort  le 
Genevois,  ou  qu'il  etait  ne  d'un  chirurgien  allemand.  Us  se  scan- 
dalisaient  de  voir  un  tsar  s'exposer  aux  gourmands  dans  ses  amusements 
militaires  comme  un  autre  Gre'gori  Otrepief.  Le  bas  peuple  etait 

i  See  Haxthausen.  2  Rambaud. 


THE  SPA  RRO  W  HILLS.  243 

indigne  de  voir  proscrire  les  longues  barbes  et  les  longs  vetements 
nationaux,  les  raskolniks  de  voir  autoriser  '  1'infection  sacrilege  du 
tabac '  !  Le  voyage  d'Occident  acheva  de  troubler  les  e-prits  et  les 
coeurs.  Avait-on  jamais  vu  un  tsar  de  Moscou  sortir  de  la  sainte 
Russie  pour  courir  les  royaumes  des  e'trangers?" — Rambaud,  "Hist, 
de  la  Russie." 

A  short  distance  out  of  Moscow  on  the  Tver  road  is 
the  Palace  of  Petrofski,  built  in  the  bastard  Gothic  of  the 
end  of  the  last  century.  It  is  seldom  inhabited  now, 
except  by  the  sovereigns,  coming  for  their  coronations, 
before  they  make  their  public  entry  into  the  town.  Hither 
Napoleon  I.  fled  from  the  Kremlin  when  Moscow  was 
burning. 

The  Park  of  Petrofski,  as  well  as  that  of  Soloniki,  is 
much  resorted  to  on  popular  festivals.  The  dances  of 
the  gipsies,  accompanied  by  the  music  of  the  balalaika, 
and  clapping  of  hands,  may  then  be  seen,  but  there  is 
little  grace  in  the  Russian  gipsies,  who  dance  for  money, 
and  much  coarseness  and  vulgarity.  The  so-called  gipsy 
songs  are  here  little  better  than  shrill  hootings,  and  their 
impertinence  of  manner,  combined  with  their  banging  of 
guitars,  and  their  discordant  voices,  is  only  calculated  to 
excite  disgust. 

A  more  interesting  drive  to  strangers  is  that  to  the 
Sparrow  Hills — Vorobyovy  Gory.  It  leads  through  the 
Lamenloi  Gorod — the  southern  part  of  the  town,  beyond 
the  Moskva — the  quarter  most  destroyed  by  fire  during 
the  French  occupation — by  gay  churches  with  veils  of 
metal,  by  huge  barracks,  and  then  by  gardens  of  fruit 
and  gourds.  Hence  there  is  a  long  dusty  ascent,  where 
the  terrific  pavement,  which  has  almost  jolted  you  to  a 
jelly,  gives  place  to  deep  ruts  and  clouds  of  dust.  At 
the  top  of  the  hill — a  favorite  place  of  the  Moscovites,  a 
sort  of  Richmond — are  a  series  of  wooden  restaurants, 
with  people  eternally  drinking  tea,  and  a  little  church- 
yard, with  a  lovely  view  of  the  wooded  bend  of  the  river, 
and  of  the  distant  town,  seen  beyond  the  great  inclosure 
of  the  Novo  Devichi  monastery,  and  the  Devichi-pole,  or 
Maiden's  Field,  where  the  feasts  of  the  people  are  held 
at  coronations.  This  is  the  "  Hill  of  Salutation,"  whence 
the  French  first  beheld  the  city,  with  the  shouts  of 


244  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

"  Moscou  !  Moscou  !  "  According  to  the  popular  belief, 
Napoleon  was  struck  to  the  ground  with  awe  at  the  sight 
of  its  thousand  towers  ;  the  fact  being  that,  on  seeing  it, 
he  exclaimed,  "  There  is  the  famous  city  at  last  :  it  was 
high  time  !  "  The  same  sight  had  caused  dissensions 
amongst  the  Russian  generals  retreating  upon  Moscow 
from  the  battlefield  of  Borodino,  forty  miles  to  the  west, 
on  which  eighty  thousand  fell,  and  of  which  both  sides 
claimed  the  victory. 

"  Koutouzoff  reunit  un  conseil  de  guerre  sur  une  des  collines  qui 
dominent  Moscou,  et  la  vue  de  cette  grande  cite,  de  la  ville  sainte 
etendue  a  leurs  pieds  condamnee  peut-etre  a  perir,  causait  une  emotion 
indicible  aux  generaux  russes.  La  seule  question  etait  celle-ci :  '  Fallait- 
il  essayer  de  sauver  Moscou  en  sacrifiant  la  derniere  armee  de  la  Russie  ? ' 
Barclay  declara  que  '  quand  il  s'agissait  du  salut  de  la  Russie  et  de 
1'Europe,  Moscou  n'etait  qu'une  ville  comme  une  autre.'  D'autres 
disaient,  comme  1'officier  d'artillerie  Grebbe  :  '  II  est  glorieux  de 
perir  sous  Moscou,  mais  ce  n'est  pas  de  gloire  qu'il  s'agit.'  .  .  . 
Koutouzoff  e'couta  tous  les  avis  et  dit,  '  Ici  ma  tete,  qu'elle  soit  bonne 
ou  mauvaise,  ne  doit  s'aider  que  d'elle-meme,'  et  il  ordonna  de  com- 
mencer  la  retraite  a  travers  la  ville.  It  sentait  bien  cependant  que 
Moscou  n'etait  pas  '  une  ville  comme  une  autre.'  II  ne  voulut  pas  y 
entrer,  et,  pleurant,  il  passa  par  les  faubourgs." — A.  Rambaud,  "Hist, 
de  la  Russie" 

"  Salute  Moscow  for  the  last  time,"  said  Rostopchine, 
the  governor  of  the  town,  to  his  son,  "  in  half  an  hour 
you  will  see  her  in  flames."  While  he  conducted  the 
people  out  of  the  city,  and  provided  them  with  shelter  in 
the  neighboring  towns,  the  plan  he  had  devised  for  the 
conflagration  was  efficiently  carried  out.  In  all  the  prin- 
cipal buildings,  except  churches  and  hospitals,  he  had 
left  bombshells  and  combustible  materials,  releasing  three 
hundred  criminals  from  the  prisons,  and  placing  them 
under  directors  each  to  fire  a  certain  portion,  so  that  not 
a  single  house  should  escape.  The  nobles  had  all  left 
servants  in  their  houses,  with  orders  to  ignite  them,  all 
earnestly  hoping  that  their  ruined  homes  would  become 
the  grave  of  the  invaders.  "  Who  would  have  thought 
that  a  nation  would  burn  its  own  capital  ?  "  said  Napoleon 
afterward.  "  Had  it  not  been  for  that,  I  should  have 
had  every  thing  my  army  wanted — excellent  winter  quar- 
ters, stores  of  all  kinds.  Alexander  would  have  made 
peace,  or  I  should  have  been  at  St.  Petersburg.  Oh,  the 


EXILES  TO  SIBERIA.  245 

burning  of  Moscow  was  the  most  grand,  sublime,  and 
terrific  sight  the  world  has  ever  beheld  !  " 1 

Russian  exiles  condemned  to  Siberia  are  always  assem- 
bled at  Moscow.  Their  prisons  on  the  Sparrow  Hills  are 
lofty,  airy,  and  warm  in  winter,  and  their  food  is  good. 
They  set  out  from  hence  in  bands  every  Sunday  after- 
noon, thus  taking  their  leave  here  in  a  last  view  of  their 
"  holy  mother  Moscow,"  a  place  whose  hold  upon  Rus- 
sian sentiment  it  is  considered  impossible  for  a  foreigner 
to  fathom.  They  journey  from  eight  to  twelve  miles  a 
day,  and  have  regular  sleeping-places.  They  only  carry 
chains  of  four  pounds  weight  upon  their  hands  and  feet 
upon  their  march  :  but  patriots,  murderers,  thieves  and 
conspirators  are  all  chained  together.  Formerly  about 
sixty  thousand  exiles  to  Siberia  passed  through  Kazan  ; 
now  the  number  is  perhaps  ten  thousand.  About  fifteen 
per  cent,  still  probably  die  on  the  road,  but  formerly  only 
a  third  reached  their  destination.  If  a  prisoner,  however, 
is  well  off  and  can  pay  for  it,  he  may  often  travel  at  his 
own  expense  and  take  his  family  and  any  amount  of  lug- 
gage with  him,  but  in  this  case  he  must  always  pay  for 
his  guards,  who  are  never  less  than  five  in  number. 
Legally,  a  Siberian  exile  is  dead,  and  his  wife,  if  she  does 
not  wish  to  accompany  him,  may  marry  again.  The  exiles 
are  allowed  to  talk  to  one  another  on  their  journey  and 
even  to  sing  their  sad  wailing  choruses.  It  is  generally 
arranged.that  they  should  pass  through  the  towns  at  night, 
but  universal  pity  is  felt  for  them,  and  in  the  villages 
which  lie  on  their  way,  the  kind-hearted  peasantry  bring 
out  bowls  of  tchai,  jugs  of  vodki,  and  piles  of  bread,  for 
them  ;  all  this  is  done  in  silence,  for  no  one  may  speak 
to  a  prisoner. 

"  The  condition  of  Siberian  convicts,  when  arrived  and  settled  in 
the  country,  is  certainly  favorable.  The  severity  of  their  punishment 
consists  in  the  loss  of  home,  the  disruption  of  early  family  ties,  and 
the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  the  long  journey. 

"In  Siberia,  the  ancient,  simple,  and  noble  patriarchal  manners 
still  prevail,  and  in  this  respect  it  is  still  the  veritable  old  Russia  in 
the  best  sense  of  the  term — there  is  the  greatest  hospitality  and  mutual 
goodwill. 

i  "  Father  Paris,  you  shall  now  pay  for  Mother  Moscow,"  was  the  Russian 
exclamation  when  the  French  capital  was  taken  by  the  allies.  For  the  story  of  the 
French  invasion  and  retreat,  the  War  of  Count  Leon  Tolstoi  may  be  read  with 
interest. 


246  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

"  The  convicts  sent  out  as  colonists  are  mostly  transported  to  the 
districts  of  southern  Siberia,  which  are  described  by  all  who  have  seen 
them  as  truly  paradisaical.  The  country  is  romantically  beautiful,  the 
soil  incredibly  fertile,  and  the  climate  healthy  ;  the  cold,  indeed,  is 
severe  in  winter,  but  with  a  perpetually  clear  sky  ;  and  nowhere  are 
there  so  many  vigorous  old  people.  The  peasants,  descended  from 
the  early  convicts,  are  all  very  well  off,  some  of  them  very  rich  ;  they 
only  require  industry,  good  behavior,  and  exertion  for  a  few  years  to 
acquire  a  substantial  position.  Their  whole  outward  condition  is 
from  the  first  favorable  :  as  soon  as  they  arrive  in  Siberia,  their  past 
life  not  only  lies  like  a  dream  behind  them,  but  is  legally  and  politi- 
cally completely  at  an  end  ;  their  crime  is  forgotten  ;  no  one  dares  to 
remind  them  of  it,  or  to  term  them  convicts  ;  both  in  the  public 
official  reports  and  in  conversation  they  are  only  termed  '  the  unfor- 
tunate.'" — Haxthausen,  "  The  Russian  Empire '." 

Prettily  situated  on  the  Sparrow  Hills  is  Neskutchnaya, 
once  belonging  to  Count  Orloff,  and  presented  by  him 
to  the  Empress  Marie  Alexandrovna.  The  late  Empress, 
"  our  good  mother,"  as  the  people  called  her,  had  another 
favorite  residence  at  Ilyink,  thirty  miles  from  Moscow. 
At  Belef,  eighty  versts  from  Moscow  in  this  direction, 
died  the  Empress  Elizabeth  Alexievna,  widow  of  Alex- 
ander I. 

It  is  pleasant  to  linger  on  the  hills  and  enjoy  stakan 
tchai  and  fresh  rusks  and  butter  with  the  natives,  till  the 
blue  shadows  have  gathered  over  the  glorious  distant  city 
and  its  cathedrals,  and  rows  of  colored  lights  at  the  tables 
of  the  little  restaurants  gleam  against  the  dark  trees. 

We  should  advise  all  visitors  to  Moscow  to  drive  out 
to  Ostankino,  on  the  west  of  the  city.  The  drive  takes 
one  through  the  suburbs,  which  melt  gradually  into  dusty 
hedgeless  roads,  leading  through  open  country  with 
groves  of  birch,  remnants  of  ancient  forest.  As  Moscow 
cares  for  no  road  beyond  the  limits  of  its  pavement,  the 
ruts  are  awful,  the  mud  appalling.  When  the  drosky 
reaches  a  fearful  bridge,  the  driver  calls  out  "  Nitchevo  " 
("  It  is  all  right ''),  makes  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  urges 
his  horse  across  the  creaking,  rocking  boards. 

"  On  ne  peut  appeler  route  un  champ  laboure',  un  gazon  raboteux, 
un  sillon  trace  dans  le  sable,  un  abime  de  fange,  borde  de  forets  mai- 
gres  et  mal  venantes  ;  il  y  a  aussi  des  encaissements  de  rondins,  longs 
parquets  rustiques  ou  les  voitures  et  les  corps  se  brisent  en  dansant 
comme  sur  une  bascule,  tant  ces  grossieres  charpentes  on  d'elasticite. 
Voila  pour  les  chemins," — I\l '.  dc  Custine, 


OSTANKINO.  247 

Ostankino  is  a  large  village,  with  a  well-proportioned 
palace,  built  of  painted  wood,  and  a  handsome  red  Rus- 
so-Saracenic  church,  on  the  shore  of  a  lake.  This  is  one 
of  the  principal  residences  of  the  Sheremetief  family,  said 
to  be  the  richest  subjects  in  Russia.  In  1806,  the  income 
of  Count  Sheremetief  was  800,000  roubles,  and  he  pos- 
sessed 150,000  male  serfs  and  300,000  souls.  Many  of 
these  purchased  their  liberty  for  not  less  than  30,000 
roubles.  Now  the  abolition  of  serfs  and  the  division  of 
family  property,  of  which  every  daughter  takes  a  four- 
teenth share,  has  reduced  the  Sheremetief  income.  Of 


OSTANKINO. 


this  family  was  the  famous  Boyar,  Boris  Sheremetief,  the 
great  traveler  of  Peter  the  Great's  time  ;  *  Marshal  She- 
remetief, to  whom  Peter  attributed  the  victory  of  Poltava; 
and  Natalia  Sheremetief,  who  was  engaged  to  the  unfor- 
tunate Prince  Ivan  Dolgorouki,  who  was  sent  into  exile 
on  the  death  of  Peter  II.  She  was  so  warmly  attached 
to  him  that,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  her  family, 
she  insisted  on  accompanying  him  in  his  exile,  writing 
afterward,  in  1771  : — 

"Just  think  what  consolation  or  honorable  advice  it  would  be  for 
me  to  marry  him  when  he  was  in  prosperity,  and  to  refuse  him  when 

I  His  journey  from  Moscow  to  Cracow  occupied  five  months  and  a  half  { 


248  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

he  was  unfortunate  ;  but  I  had  determined,  when  I  gave  my  heart  to 
another,  that  I  would  live  or  die  with  him,  and  allow  no  one  else  to 
have  a  share  of  my  love.  It  was  not  my  way  to  love  one  person  one 
day  and  another  the  next,  as  is  now  the  fashion  ;  but  I  showed  the 
world  that  I  could  be  faithful  in  love.  I  was  my  husband's  companion 
in  all  his  sufferings,  and  I  speak  the  entire  truth  when  I  assert  that,  in 
the  midst  of  my  misfortunes,  I  never  either  repented  of  my  marriage, 
nor  murmured  against  God."  l 

But  the  sorrows  of  Natalia  did  not  end  in  Siberia. 
Solovief  2  tells  how  slowly  and  with  what  feminine  hate 
the  vengeance  of  the  Empress  Anne  against  the  Dolgo- 
rouki  was  accomplished.  First  they  were  exiled  to  their 
estates  ;  then  they  were  sent  to  Beresof,  far  in  Siberia  ; 
thence  they  were  brought  back  to  the  torture.  Natalia 
had  to  see  her  husband  broken  alive  upon  the  wheel  at 
Novogorod.  All  her  jewels  were  confiscated  ;  she  had 
nothing  but  her  wedding-ring  with  which  to  bribe  the 
executioner  to  put  a  speedy  end  to  his  sufferings.  This 
is  the  subject  of  a  favorite  popular  song  : 

"On  the  highway  it  is  not  a  merchant,  it  is  not  a  boyar  they 
are  leading,  it  is  the  Prince  Dolgorouki  himself.  On  the  right 
and  the  left  are  two  regiments  of  soldiers.  In  front  marches  the 
terrible  executioner.  Behind  follows  the  lady,  all  pale,  with  her  eyes 
red. 

"  She  weeps  :  it  is  a  river  which  flows.  Her  tears  fall  :  it  is  a  wave 
which  rolls.  '  Do  not  weep,  my  lady,  lady  of  the  pale  face,  of  the  red 
eyes.' 

"'How  can  I  help  weeping?  They  have  taken  away  my  peas- 
ants :  I  have  no  money  left  :  I  have  nothing  but  my  ring,  but  my  ring 
of  gold.' 

"  Give  the  ring,  O  give  the  ring  to  the  executioner,  that  he  may  let 
me  die  more  quickly.'  " 

After  the  death  of  her  husband,  Natalia  still  remained 
for  nearly  two  years  in  Siberia  with  her  two  children. 
She  became  a  nun  by  the  name  of  Nectaria  in  1758,  and 
died  in  1771. 

Russian  country  life  in  such  a  house  as  the  palace  of 
Ostankino,  or  in  many  smaller  houses,  is  only  usually 
known  to  strangers  through  translations  of  the  Russian 
novels.  The  novels  of  Ivan  Tourgueneff,  the  novelist  of 
domestic  life — the  dullest  domestic  life — describe  many 

1  Rouskii,  Archiv,  vol.  v.,  p.  15. 

2  Solovief 's  History  of  Russia  to  the  reign  of  Catherine  //.,  in  twenty-nine 
volumes,  is  full  of  interest,  but,  unfortunately,  has  never  been  translated. 


A  LEX  A  NDRO  VSK  Y.  24$ 

such  houses.  "  A  Society  of  Gentlefolks  in  the  Country," 
exactly  depicts  the  life  in  such  a  house.  Gogol  (ob. 
1852)  portrays  the  sleepy,  good-humored  self-indulgence 
of  the  country  proprietor  in  Staroovetski  Pomystchiki 
("  Proprietor  of  the  Olden  Time  ").  Describing  such  a 
sleepy  Russian  country  house  as  Ostankino,  he  tells  how 
each  of  the  doors  had  a  separate  sound  as  it  turned  on 
its  hinges,  and  an  articulation  for  those  who  could  com- 
prehend it.  A  picture  of  the  life  of  a  great  Russian 
noble — his  luxury,  parade,  and  superstitions — is  given  in 
the  "  Historical  Sketches  and  Tales  "  of  M.  Shubinski. 

Returning  to  Moscow  from  Ostankino,  we  may  visit  a 
Hospital  on  the  north  of  the  boulevard  in  the  high  part 
of  the  town,  built  by  Prince  Michael  Sheremetief  for  a 
hundred  old  men  and  a  hundred  old  women. 

In  this  part  of  the  town  is  the  Passion  Monastery — 
Strasni  Monastir — with  a  tall  tower,  which  is  often  as- 
cended for  the  view,  and  near  it  a  good  Statue  of  the 
Russian  poet,  Alexander  Pouchkine,  ob.  1837,  whose 
best-known  works  are  the  "  Prisoner  of  the  Caucasus  " 
and  the  drama  of  "  Boris  Godunof."  The  boulevards 
which  surround  the  Bielgorod,  and  which  are  three  times 
the  width  of  Portland  Place,  were  made  by  the  Emperor 
Paul. 

The  student  of  Russian  history  will  make  an  excursion 
to  Alexandrovsky,  86  miles,  or  107  versts,  from  Moscow, 
in  the  province  of  Vladimir,  intimately  interwoven  with 
the  story  of  Ivan  the  Terrible. 

"Alexandrovsky  became  a  town  adorned  with  churches,  houses, 
and  shops  in  stone.  The  famous  Church  of  Our  Lady  glittered  ex- 
ternally with  brilliant  colors,  enriched  by  gold  and  silver  ;  on  every 
brick  a  cross  was  represented.  The  Tsar  inhabited  a  great  palace 
surrounded  by  a  moat  and  a  rampart  ;  the  officers  of  his  court,  the 
civil  and  military  functionaries,  occupied  separate  houses  ;  the  guards 
had  their  particular  streets,  and  so  had  the  merchants.  It  was 
expressly  forbidden  to  enter  or  go  out  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
Tsar  ;  and,  to  carry  out  this  measure  of  surveillance,  a  cordon  of 
guards  was  placed  at  three  versts  from  the  palace.  In  this  threatening 
castle,  surrounded  by  dark  forests,  the  Tsar  gave  up  the  greater  part 
of  his  time  to  the  services  of  the  Church,  seeking  to  soothe  the  agita- 
tion of  his  mind  by  the  practices  of  devotion.  He  even  conceived  the 
idea  of  transforming  his  palace  into  a  monastery,  and  his  favorites 
into  monks.  He  gave  the  name  of  brothers  to  three  hundred  guards 
chosen  from  the  dregs  of  the  people,  took  the  title  of  abbot,  and  then 


250  STUDIES  IN  R USSIA. 

instituted  Athanasius  Viazemsky  treasurer,  and  Maluta  Skouratof 
sacristan.  After  having  distributed  ecclesiastical  caps  and  cassocks  to 
them,  under  which  they  wore  dresses  glittering  with  gold  and  fringed 
with  martin's  fur,  he  composed  the  Rule  of  the  convent,  and  gave  the 
example  in  its  strict  observance.  Listen  to  the  description  of  this 
singular  monastic  life :  At  three  in  the  morning  the  Tsar,  accom- 
panied by  his  children  and  Skouratof,  went  to  ring  the  bell  for 
matins  ;  all  the  brethren  immediately  hastened  to  the  church,  and  if 
any  one  failed  in  this  duty  he  was  punished  by  eight  days  in  prison. 
During  the  service,  which  lasted  from  six  to  seven,  the  Tsar  chanted, 
read  and  prayed  with  such  fervor  that  the  marks  of  his  prostrations 
always  remained  on  his  forehead.  At  eight  o'clock  all  met  again  to 
hear  mass  ;  and,  at  ten,  every  one  sat  down  to  a  meal,  except  Ivan, 
who  read  aloud,  standing,  from  instructing  writings.  The  repast  was 
abundant,  wine  and  hydromel  were  bounteously  supplied,  and  every 
day  seemed  a  fete  day.  The  remains  of  the  banquet  were  carried  to 
the  public  square  to  be  distributed  to  the  poor.  The  abbot — that  is, 
the  Tsar — dined  after  the  others  ;  he  discoursed  with  his  intimates  on 
religious  subjects,  then  he  took  a  nap,  or  sometimes  went  to  the  pris- 
ons to  order  some  unfortunates  to  be  put  to  the  torture.  This  hor- 
rible sight  seemed  to  amuse  him  ;  he  came  back  every  time  with  a 
face  radiant  with  satisfaction.  He  joked  and  conversed  more  gayly 
than  before.  At  eight  o'clock  all  went  to  vespers.  Finally,  at  ten, 
Ivan  retired  to  his  bedroom,  where,  one  after  the  other,  three  blind  men 
told  him  stories,  which  sent  him  to  sleep  for  some  hours.  At  mid- 
night he  rose  and  began  his  day  by  prayer.  Sometimes  reports  upon 
the  affairs  of  the  government  were  brought  to  him  in  church  ;  some- 
times the  most  sanguinary  orders  were  given  during  the  chanting  of 
matins,  or  during  mass." — Karamsin,  ix. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    MONASTERIES    NEAR    MOSCOW. 

THE  venerable  Doctors  known  as  the  Greek  Fathers 
are  St.  John  Chrysostom,  St.  Basil,  St.  Athan- 
asius,  and  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen.  Banished  from  relig- 
ious representations  in  the  West,  their  majestic  figures 
meet  us  repeatedly  in  the  sacred  art  of  Eastern  Christen- 
dom, generally  with  the  addition  of  a  fifth  figure,  that  of 
St.  Cyril  of  Alexandria.  In  Western  Christendom  they 
are  only  represented  in  places  where  Byzantine  artists 
have  been  employed,  as  at  St.  Mark's  at  Venice  and 
Monreale  in  Sicily.  Of  the  Greek  Fathers,  St.  Basil  is 
the  one  whose  image  is  always  with  us  in  Russian  trav- 
els, represented  in  every  church,  sold  in  every  icon 
shop.  He  was  the  founder  of  monasticism  in  the  East, 
and  implicit  faith  is  placed  in  his  intercessory  powers. 
Armenian  Christians  believe  that  the  prayers  of  St.  Basil 
can  not  only  redeem  lost  souls  from  purgatory,  but  fallen 
angels  from  hell. 

There  is  no  book  in  English  or  French  which  will 
enable  an  English  traveler  to  study  the  labyrinthine  his- 
tory of  the  saints  of  the  Greek  Church.  Most  of  those 
who  will  meet  a  Western  stranger  in  Russia  will  be  utterly 
unfamiliar  to  him.  How  few  know  any  thing,  for 
instance,  of  the  St.  Dionysius  so  constantly  celebrated  in 
the  hymns  and  prayers  of  the  church  services.  The  few 
Greek  martyrs  accepted  by  the  Latin  Church  are  :  St. 
Pantaleon,  St.  Cyprian,  and  St.  Phocas  ;  St.  Dorotea,  St. 
Tecla,  St.  Justina,  St.  Apollonia,  and,  more  especially, 
St.  Euphemia  the  Great,  who  suffered  at  Chalcedon  c. 
307.  The  last  named  saint  placed  in  the  Russian  calen- 
dar is  St.  Metrophanes,  bishop  of  Voronege  in  the  time 
of  Peter  the  Great. 


2$2  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

"  The  Oriental  or  Greek  Church  is  incontestably  the  most  ancient 
of  all  Christian  Churches.  At  the  Council  of  Sardis  in  Illyricum,  in 
the  year  347,  the  first  iealousies  between  the  Eastern  and  Western 
Churches  broke  out,  though  a  total  separation  did  not  ensue  till  the 
time  of  Photius,  who  was  elected  patriarch  of  Constantinople  in  the 
year  858  by  the  Emperor  Michael,  in  the  place  of  Ignatius,  whom 
that  prince  drove  from  his  see.  Pope  Nicholas  took  part  with  the 
exiled  patriarch,  condemned  the  election  as  unwarrantable,  and  excom- 
municated Photius.  Photius,  a  high-spirited  prelate,  and  the  most 
learned  and  ingenious  man  of  the  age  he  lived  in,  assembled  a  council 
at  Constantinople,  and  in  return  excommunicated  the  Pope.  From 
this  period  the  opposition  and  distinction  between  the  two  Churches 
must  be  dated  ;  but  there  is  the  strongest  historical  evidence  in  favor 
of  the  antiquity  of  the  Eastern.  It  is  well  known  that  the  first 
Churches  were  those  of  Greece  and  Syria  ;  we  have  no  proof  that 
St.  Peter  was  ever  at  Rome,  but  we  are  certain  he  was  a  long  time 
in  Syria,  and  that  he  traveled  as  far  as  Babylon.  Paul  was  of 
Tarsus  in  Cilicia,  and  his  works  were  written  in  Greek  r  all  the 
Fathers  of  the  four  first  ages  clown  to  Jerome  were  of  Greece.  Syria, 
and  Africa  ;  all  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Latin  Church  testify 
even  by  their  names  that  their  origin  was  Greek — ecclesiastic,  Paraclete, 
liturgy,  litany,  symbol,  Eucharist,  agape,  Epiphany — and  all  clearly 
show  that  the  Western  Church  was  the  daughter  of  the  Eastern.  It 
may  be  granted  that  the  Roman  pontiff  had  acquired  a  spiritual  estab- 
lishment, or  rather  a  temporal  jurisdiction,  before  the  patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  and  perhaps  before  any  other  Oriental  patriarch  ; 
but  beyond  a  doubt,  the  first  Christian  Church  or  society  was  estab- 
lished at  Jerusalem."—  King. 

John  Faber,  a  German  Dominican,  called  "  Malleus 
Haereticorum,"  who  died  Bishop  of  Vienna  in  1541,  thus 
describes  the  Russian  Church  : — 

"The  Muscovites  follow  the  Christian  faith,  which,  they  say,  was 
first  preached  to  them  by  the  Apostle  St.  Andrew,  the  brother  of 
Simon  Peter.  Also  all  that  was  decreed  under  Constantine  the  Great 
by  the  three  hundred  and  eighteen  bishops  at  Nice  of  Bithynia,  in 
the  first  Nicene  Council,  and  all  the  tradition  and  teaching  of  Basil 
the  Great  and  St.  John  Chrysostom,  they  believe  to  be  so  sacred, 
authoritative,  and  authentic  that  it  has  never  been  lawful  for  any  to 
depart  therefrom  so  much  as  a  hair's,  breadth,  any  more  than  from  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  itself.  And  such  is  their  sob.ermindedness  that  what- 
ever has  once  been  decided  by  the  holy  fathers  in  their  councils  no 
one  of  their  profession  ever  dares  to  make  a  question  of  it  afterward. 
But  if  any  difficulty  either  about  faith  or  ritual  matters  arise,  it  is  all 
referred  to  the  archbishop  and  the  rest  of  the  bishops,  to  be  deter- 
mined solely  by  their  judgment.  Nor  is  any  thing  left  to  the  variable- 
ness of  popular  opinion." 

i  De  Russorum,  Moscovitorum*  et  Tartarorum  Religione,  etc.  Spirae.  Anno 
MD.  LXXX.II. 


BLACK:  AND  WHITE  CLERGY.  253 

The  Orthodox  communion  has  five  patriarchates  : — 
Alexandria,  Constantinople,  Antioch,  Jerusalem,  and 
Russia. 

Before  the  erection  of  its  patriarchate,  the  highest  dig- 
nity in  the  Russian  Church  was  that  of  the  metropolitan 
of  Moscow  ;  then  came  the  six  archbishoprics  of  Novo- 
gorod,  Rostoff,  Smolensk,  Kazan,  Pskoff,  and  Vologda ; 
then  the  six  bishoprics  of  Riazan,  Tver,  Kolomenskoe, 
Vladimir,  Sousdal  and  Kroutiski  or  Sarai,  of  which  the 
dioceses  were  immense.  In  later  years  many  other 
bishoprics  have  been  added. 

The  Russian  Church  has  kept  itself  singularly  free 
from  politics,  and,  except  as  peacemakers  or  as  patriots 
when  the  country  is  in  danger,  its  authorities  have  seldom 
interfered  in  temporal  matters. 

"  In  spite  of  their  splendor,  in  spite  of  the  important  part  which 
they  have  played,  the  Russian  clergy  have  never  showed  the  boundless 
ambition  with  which  history  fairly  reproaches  the  clergy  of  the  Roman 
Church.  They  have  been,  in  the  hands  of  the  grand  princes,  a  useful 
instrument,  but  have  never  disputed  with  them  the  temporal  power. 
With  the  mutual  consent  of  both  sides,  but  without  any  legal  right,  the 
metropolitans  have  served  as  arbiters  in  the  quarrels  of  the  princes  ; 
they  have  guaranteed  the  sincerity  and  the  sanctity  of  oaths  ;  they 
have  appealed  to  the  conscience  while  abstaining  from  having  recourse 
to  the  temporal  sword,  with  which  the  Popes  have  usually  threatened 
those  who  have  dared  to  brave  their  pontifical  will  ;  and  if  they  have 
sometimes  broken  the  laws  of  charity  and  Christian  humility,  it  has 
only  been  out  of  submission  to  the  princes  on  whom  they  were  entirely 
dependent,  and  who  raised  them  to  the  rank  of  metropolitan,  or 
lowered  them  at  their  will.  In  short,  the  Russian  Church  has  always 
preserved  its  primitive  character  ;  its  principal  object  has  always  been 
to  civilize  manners,  to  calm  the  violence  of  passions,  and  to  preach 
Christian  and  civil  virtues." — Karamsin. 

Russian  ecclesiastics  are  divided  into  the  "White 
Clergy"  and  the  "Black  Clergy."  The  White  Clergy,1 
who  are  the  parish  priests,  are  miserably  poor  (for  all  the 
ecclesiastical  wealth  is  absorbed  by  the  monks),  being 
chiefly  dependent  upon  baptismal  or  burial  fees,  which 
they  have  great  difficulty  in  extracting  from  the  peasantry. 
Formerly  the  priests  in  country  villages  were  treated  like 
serfs,  and  often  most  contemptuously  ;  near  one  great 
country  house  the  priest  used  frequently  to  be  ducked  in 

i  The  White  Clergy  do  not  wear  white  gowns  and  cassocks,  but  any  other  color 
which  suits  their  taste  and  convenience,  except  black. 


254  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

a  pond  to  amuse  the  landlord  and  his  guests.  At  the 
time  of  their  ordination,  the  White  Clergy  are  expected 
to  be  married — to  be  "  the  husband  of  one  wife  " — but 
not  on  that  account  to  have  fallen  in  love.  The  bishop 
finds  their  wives  for  the  clergy — a  maiden  always,  for 
ecclesiastics  may  not  marry  widows — and  generally  (being 
the  protector  of  clerical  widows  and  orphans)  the  bishop 
expects  a  priest  to  marry  the  daughter  of  his  predecessor, 
with  whom  he  has  also,  as  a  natural  consequence,  to 
undertake  the  care  and  maintenance  of  the  widow,  his 
mother-in-law. 

"  The  customary  portion  which  the  pope  requires  of  his  bride  is  as 
follows  : — (i)  The  long  priest's  stick  with  a  silver  knob,  which  costs 
about  twelve  roubles  ;  (2)  the  round  and  broad  priest's  hat,  which  also 
costs  about  ten  to  twelve  roubles  ;  (3)  a  complete  bed,  costing  forty 
roubles  ;  (4)  twelve  new  shirts  and  twelve  pocket-handkerchiefs  ;  (5) 
the  viza,  or  long  silk  robe  of  the  pope,  which  costs  forty  to  fifty 
roubles,  and  three  hundred  to  five  hundred  roubles  in  money.  "- 
Haxthausen,  "  The  Russian  Empire." 

In  former  times  the  White  Clergy  were  elected  by  the 
parishioners  from  any  class  of  the  population,  and  when 
chosen  were  presented  to  the  bishop,  who  if  he  found 
the  candidate  satisfactory,  ordained  him  at  once.  But 
gradually  the  extreme  ignorance  of  the  candidates  pre- 
sented by  the  people  led  the  bishops  to  take  the  matter 
into  their  own  hands,  and  make  their  own  selection. 
Their  choice  usually  fell  on  the  sons  of  priests,  and  after 
episcopal  seminaries  were  established  for  the  education 
of  the  clergy,  none  others  were  chosen.  Indeed,  the 
children  of  priests  are  called  "  little  popes  "  from  baby- 
hood, and  are  encouraged  to  play  at  the  christening,  mar- 
rying, and  burying  of  their  dolls.  The  fact  that  out- 
siders are  now  prevented  aspiring  to  the  priesthood  has 
made  the  clergy  into  a  distinct  class,  legally  unable  to 
mix  with  the  rest  of  the  population. 

"The  people  do  not  respect  the  clergy,  but  persecute  them  with 
derision  and  reproaches,  and  feel  them  to  be  a  burden.  In  nearly  all 
the  popular  comic  stories  the  priest,  his  wife,  or  his  laborer  is  held  up 
to  ridicule  ;  and  in  all  the  proverbs  and  sayings  where  the  clergy  are 
mentioned,  it  is  always  with  derision.  The  people  shun  the  clergy, 
and  have  recourse  to  them  not  from  the  inner  impulse  of  conscience, 
but  from  necessity.  .  .  .  And  why  do  the  people  not  respect  the  clergy  ? 
Because  it  forms  a  class  apart ;  because,  having  received  a  false  kind 


THE  WHITE  CLERGY.  255 

of  education,  it  does  not  introduce  into  the  life  of  the  people  the 
teachings  of  the  spirit,  but  remains  in  the  mere  dead  forms  of  outward 
ceremonial,  at  the  same  time  despising  these  forms  even  to  blasphemy  ; 
because  the  clergy  itself  continually  presents  examples  of  want  of  respect 
to  religion,  and  transforms  the  service  of  God  into  a  profitable  trade. 
Can  the  people  respect  the  clergy  when  they  hear  how  one  priest  stole 
money  from  below  the  pillow  of  a  dying  man  at  the  moment  of  confes- 
sion, how  another  was  publicly  dragged  out  of  a  house  of  ill-fame,  how 
a  third  christened  a  dog,  how  a  fourth,  while  officiating  at  the  Easter 
service,  was  dragged  by  the  hair  from  the  altar  by  the  deacon  ?  Is  it  pos- 
sible for  the  people  to  respect  priests  who  spend  their  time  in  the  gin- 
shops,  write  fraudulent  petitions,  fight  with  the  cross  in  their  hands,  and 
abuse  each  other  in  bad  language  at  the  altar?  One  might  fill  several 
pages  with  examples  of  this  kind — in  each  instance  naming  the  time 
and  place — without  overstepping  the  boundaries  of  the  province  of 
Nijni-Novogorod.  Is  it  possible  for  the  people  to  respect  the  clergy 
when  they  see  everywhere  amongst  them  simony,  carelessness  in  per- 
forming the  religious  rites,  and  disorder  in  administering  the  sacra- 
ments ?  Is  it  possible  for  the  people  to  respect  the  clergy  when  they 
see  that  truth  has  disappeared  from  it,  and  that  the  consistories,  guided 
in  their  decisions  not  by  rules,  but  by  personal  friendship  and  bribery, 
destroy  in  it  the  last  remains  of  truthfulness  ?  If  we  add  to  all  this  tne 
false  certificates  which  the  clergy  give  to  those  who  do  not  wish  to 
partake  of  the  Eucharist,  the  dues  illegally  extracted  from  the  old 
Ritualists,  the  conversion  of  the  altar  into  a  source  of  revenue,  the 
giving  of  churches  to  priests'  daughters  as  a  dowry,  and  similar  phe- 
nomena, the  question  as  to  whether  the  people  can  respect  the  clergy 
requires  no  answer.": — Report  of  M.  Melnikoff  to  the  Grand  Duke  Con- 
stantine,  as  given  in  Wallace's  "Russia." 

"  If  any  one  ask  a  Russian  who  may  already  have  dined  to  eat  again, 
he  will  often  answer  :  '  Am  I  a  priest  that  I  should  dine  twice  over  ? ' 
This  almost  proverbial  way  of  expressing  themselves  refers  to  the 
moving  about  of  the  popes  from  one  funeral  feast  or  one  christening 
banquet  to  another,  at  which  they  enjoy  themselves  more  than  any  one 
else.  A  Russian  driving  out,  and  meeting  a  pope,  holds  it  for  so  bad  an 
omen,  that  he  will  rather  turn  back  if  he  have  not  by  immediate  spit- 
ting warded  off  the  evil  influence. 

"  '  Niel !  on  ne  iss  nashikh  !  No  !  our  priest  is  good  for  nothing  ; 
he  is  not  one  of  us  ;  he  won't  drink  with  us  ;  he  won't  sing  with  us  ; 
he  does  as  if  he  did  not  know  us  ;  he  is  so  proud  we  will  not  know 
him  either,  and  make  our  gifts  and  presents  to  another  priest.'  Such 
is  the  freqent  judgment  of  the  peasants. " — Kohl. 

"  The  White  Clergy  accuse  the  Black  of  diverting  from  them  the 
benefactions  of  the  faithful,  and  of  misappropriating  the  church  reve- 
nues generally  ;  the  Black  reply  that  the  White  are  a  set  of  dissolute 
fellows,  who  have  more  than  enough  money  as  it  is,  and  grow  fat  by 
roguery.  The  people,  viewing  with  equal  eye  the  merits  of  the  two 
clergies,  think  there  is  little  to  choose  between  them  in  the  matter  of 
peculation  ;  but  they  despise  the  White  Clergy  most,  because  the  mal- 
practices of  the  popes  are  more  palpable.  The  budget  of  the  secular 
clergy  amounts  to  5,ooo,ooo/.,  which,  distributed  among  36,000 


256  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

parishes,  gives  about  I4O/.  to  each.  By  rights  there  should  be  in  each 
parish  a  pope,  a  deacon,  and  two  clerks  ;  but  there  are  only  12,000 
deacons  and  60,000  clerks  in  the  whole  empire  ;  consequently  as  half 
the  income  of  each  priest  should  go  to  the  pope,  every  pope  ought  to 
receive  about  8s/.  a  year.  He  gets  nothing  like  that,  for  the  bishops 
act  as  if  the  establishment  of  deacons  and  clerks  was  complete, 
and  put  the  surplus  salaries  in  their  pockets.  The  synods  also  rob 
him,  and  at  times  (for  instance,  during  the  war)  neglect  to  pay  him 
at  all. 

"The  pope,  therefore,  swindles  for  a  living.  But  one  need  not 
pity  him  overmuch,  for  the  sums  which  he  makes  by  his  extortions 
more  than  counterbalance  the  salary  of  which  he  is  defrauded." — "  The 
Russians  of  To-day"  1878. 

There  are  often,  of  course,  exceptions  to  this  ;  and 
happily  there  are  many  parish  priests  still  honored  and 
deserving  of  honor.  These  are  generally  the  older  priests  ; 
indeed,  it  will  often  be  found  that  the  more  ancient  and 
ghostlike  a  priest  is,  the  more  supernatural  his  voice,  the 
more  popular  he  will  be.  Such  was  the  old  metropolitan 
of  St.  Petersburg — unable  to  hold  a  book,  and  with  no 
sight  to  read  it.  But  a  book  was  held  before  him,  and  a 
prompter  whispered  the  words  which  his  trembling  voice 
repeated.  The  people  adored  that  metropolitan. 

"  As  the  monks  all  wear  black,  the  secular  priests,  almost  without 
exception,  choose  brown  for  their  ordinary  dress  ;  when  they  are 
officiating  as  ministers  of  religion,  it  is  of  course  different.  They 
wear  long  brown  coats  buttoned  from  top  to  bottom,  and  over  them 
long,  full,  open  tunics,  with  wide  sleeves.  The  hair  and  beard  are 
worn  like  those  of  the  monks.  On  their  heads  they  wear  high  brown 
or  red  velvet  caps  trimmed  with  handsome  furs,  and  carry  excessively 
long  brown  sticks  studded  with  wrought  silver  knobs.  Such  is  the 
appearance  of  the  Russian  secular  priest  as  he  marches  with  stately 
step  through  the  streets. 

"  Poor  as  the  Russian  clergy  are  with  respect  to  revenue  (a  Bishop 
of  Durham  or  Canterbury  has  perhaps  alone  as  much  as  half  the  Duk- 
hovenstvo  or  hierarchy  of  Russia)  they  are  rich  enough  in  titles,  which 
are  sometimes  a  yard  long.  If  a  person  enter  the  apartment  of  a 
metropolitan  and  address  him,  the  title  runs  thus  :  Vuissokopreoss- 
washtshenna'ishi  Vladiko,  or  if  he  writes  to  him  :  Yervo  Vuissokopreoss- 
•washtshenstvo  Milostivaishu  Gossudarin  i  Archipastidru.  The  prin- 
cipal word  may  be  translated — His  most  holy  highness.  The  whole 
address  is  something  like — His  most  holy  highness,  the  most  dear  and 
gracious  lord,  the  lord  archpastor." — Kohl 

The  ranks  of  the  clergy  are  so  terribly  overcrowded 
that  there  are  many  of  the  priests  who  live  entirely  by 
begging  for  shrines  and  tombs.  Happily,  it  is  not  very 


THE   WHITE  CLERGY.  257 

usual  now  to  see  a  priest  drunk-;  still,  there  many  priests 
who  are  sent  to  Valamo  as  punishment  for  being  seen 
in  the  state  the  ambassadors  of  the  Duke  of  Holstein 
describe  from  Novogorod  : 

"  I  saw  a  priest  coming  out  of  a  tippling-house,  who,  coming  by  our 
lodging,  would  needs  give  the  benediction  to  the  strelitz  who  stood  sen- 
tinel at  the  door  ;  but,  as  he  lifted  up  his  hands,  going  to  make  the 
inclination  used  in  that  ceremony,  the  head,  fraught  with  the  vapors 
of  the  wine,  was  so  heavy  that,  weighing  down  the  whole  body,  the 
pope  fell  down  in  the  dirt.  Our  strelitz  took  him  off  with  much 
respect,  and  received  his  draggled  benediction  ;  it  being,  it  seems,  a 
thing  very  ordinary  among  them." 

To  Protestants  the  Russian  clergy  are  always  extraor- 
dinarily tolerant,  and  the  rites  of  burial  in  a  Russo-Greek 
cemetery  are  never  refused  to  them.  But  no  Russian  is 
tolerant  to  the  sects  of  his  own  Church,  and  he  is  always 
ready  to  spit  in  his  neighbor's  face  on  religious  grounds. 
With  regard  to  science,  it  must  be  allowed  that,  if  the 
Russian  Church  has  done  nothing  to  advance  it,  it  has  at 
least,  unlike  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  done  nothing  to 
repress  it. 

Ecclesiastical  administration  is  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
the  Black  Clergy — all  monks  of  the  Order  of  St.  Basil, 
devoted  to  prayer  and  contemplation.  Originally  poor, 
and  devoted  to  evangelical  work,  successive  gifts  and 
legacies  have  richly  endowed  them  ;  and,  though  the 
church  lands  were  secularized,  and  the  number  of  mon- 
asteries greatly  reduced  under  Catherine  II.,  the  Black 
Clergy  remain  the  ruling  body  in  the  Church. 

The  Greco-Russian  monks  are  of  three  degrees  : 
novices,  those  who  take  "  the  lesser  habit "  after  three 
years'  noviciate,  and  those  who  take  the  "  great  angelical 
habit."  The  latter,  when  they  take  vows  of  poverty, 
chastity,  and  obedience,  renounce,  not  only  the  sins  and 
vanities  of  the  world,  but  wife  and  children,  relations  and 
friends,  and  every  earthly  connection  and  possession. 
Monks  are  not  necessarily  priests,  but  when  ordained,  are 
called  the  "  regular  clergy,"  and  engross  all  the  dignities 
and  influence  of  the  Church.  Bishops  are  always  taken 
from  this  order,  and  all  the  higher  offices  are  filled  from 
it ;  the  White  Clergy  can  have  no  aspirations. 
•  A  Russian  monk  never  eats  flesh,  and  for  him  there 


25  8  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA. 

are  many  days  of  total  abstinence.  No  monk  is  bound 
till  he  is  thirty  ;  before  that  time  he  can  only  be  a  novice. 
Without  a  particular  order  from  the  Holy  Synod,  no  nun 
can  be  bound  till  she  is  fifty  ;  before  that  time  she  has 
power  to  give  up  the  monastic  life,  or  to  marry.  In 
monasteries  of  the  third  degree,  which  are  very  rare,  the 
inmates  must  lower  their  hoods,  and  never  allow  their 
faces  to  be  seen. 

There  are  still  five  hundred  convents  in  Russia,  with 
six  thousand  monks  and  three  thousand  nuns.  The  prin- 
cipal of  a  monastery  is  called  an  archimandrite,  from 
pdvdpa,  a  fold  ;  or  hegumen,  from  fyw/uu,  duco.  The  former 
is  the  abbot  or  father,  having  the  government  of  the 
monks,  who  are  brethren.  The  hegumen  is  the  prior,  or 
chief  of  a  smaller  convent.  An  abbess  is  called  hegu- 
mena.1  The  names  of  the  monasteries  recall  the  The- 
baid  ;  the  larger  are  called  Laura  (lavra),  the  smaller 
Sketa,  or  desert  (poustynid], 

Basilian  monks  wear  a  black  habit,  fastened  with  a 
girdle  of  cord  or  leather.  The  novice  only  wears  the 
cassock  ;  the  simple  monk  wears  also  the  gown,  and 
the  Kap.Tj'havKiw.  The  mantle,  worn  over  the  gown  on 
certain  occasions,  is  the  badge  of  the  fj.LK.pbv  oxwa,  or  lesser 
habit.  The  great  angelic  habit,  or  simply  OXVIM,  is  asso- 
ciated with  the  idea  of  total  seclusion  and  preparation 
for  death  ;  and  the  scapulary  and  other  badges  of  it  are 
covered  with  emblems  of  death  and  Christian  faith.2 
All  the  Black  Clergy  wear  the  klobouk  (Kapqfaviuav),  a 
high  cap,  with  a  veil  covering  it,  and  falling  on  the 
shoulders  behind. 


The  great  monastery  of  Simonof,  about  four  miles  dis- 
tant, will  probably  be  the  first  which  travelers  will  visit 
from  Moscow.  The  drive  would  be  a  pleasant  one  if  the 
pavement  were  not  so  agonizing.  We  turn  to  the  left  by 
the  bridge  beneath  the  Kremlin,  and  skirt  the  river  for 
some  distance.  There  are  many  views  worth  painting, 
especially  toward  evening.  On  the  river  are  barges  of 
corn,  which  are  said  to  be  each  accompanied  by  50,000 

i  See  King,  2  See  notes  to  Mouravieff. 


MONA  STER  Y  OF  THE  NE  VV  REDEEMER.        259 

of  the  privileged  pigeons  (emblems  of  the  Holy  Spirit), 
eating  most  voraciously.  On  the  low  hill  which  we  cross 
is  the  huge  Monastery  of  the  New  Redeemer  (Novospaski 
Monastir),  so  called  because  it  was  built  by  Ivan  III.  in 
the  place  of  the  original  Spassky  monastery  of  his  great- 
grandfather Kalita.  It  is  surrounded  by  high  walls,  and 
approached  by  a  gateway.  Its  immense  quiet  inclosure 
contains  several  churches.  In  the  principal  church, 
approached  by  a  picturesquely  frescoed  corridor,  are  the 
graves  of  many  of  the  Romanoff  family,  before  any  of  its 
members  were  elected  to  the  sovereignty.  But  the  graves 
of  the  family  include  that  of  Martha,  mother  of  the  Tsar 
Michael,  who  had  become  a  nun  when  her  husband,  after- 
ward the  patriarch  Philaret,  became  a  monk.  Her  son 
Michael  and  her  grandson  Alexis  are  represented  on  the 
walls  near  the  iconastos.  Alexis  gave  the  monastery  to 
the  famous  Nikon,  who  resided  here  till  his  accession  to 
the  patriarchate,  and  went  hence  every  Friday  to  the 
Kremlin,  to  converse  with  the  Tsar  after  the  church 
service.  Almost  more  than  the  churches  in  the  Kremlin 
does  the  church  of  Novospaski  seem  to  be  crowded  with 
venerable  icons,  to  which  a  stranger  present  in  the  church 
would  say  that  the  most  unmitigated  idolatry  was  paid, 
yet:— 

"  The  Eastern  Church  nominally  regards  the  invocation  of  saints  as 
sinful,  because  there  is  only  '  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man,' 
but  declares  that  as  we  are  taught  to  pray  for  one  another  and  desire 
the  prayers  of  others  for  ourselves,  there  is  a  secondary  sense,  in  which, 
under  Christ  the  primary  Mediator,  there  may  be  many  others  ;  and  in 
this  sense  they  consider  such  expressions  as  '  Pray  for  us  ;  obtain  for 
us  by  thy  prayers  ;  grant  to  us  ;  give  us,'  and  even  '  save  us,'  as  justi- 
fiable. They  even  declare  that  they  put  their  whole  trust  in  some 
saint,  or  even  in  some  icon,  and  that  the  Virgin  '  is  the  only  hope  of 
Christians'  or  'of  the  whole  race  of  mankind.'" — IV.  Palmer, 
"  Dissertations  on  the  Orthodox  or  Eastern-Catholic  Communion." 

In  the  striking  service  of  "  Orthodox  Sunday,"  also, 
we  hear  : — 

"To  those  who  cast  reproaches  on  the  holy  images  which  the  holy 
Church  receiveth,  in  remembrance  of  the  works  of  God  and  his  saints, 
to  inspire  the  beholders  with  piety  and  to  incite  them  to  imitate  their 
examples,  and  to  those  who  say  that  they  are  idols,  Anathema." 

Very  beautiful  and  melodious,  though  somewhat  mo- 


260  STUDIES  IN  R USSIA. 

notorious,  is  the  singing  in  these  great  monastic  churches, 
where  we  may  constantly  hear  monks  singing  the  "  eternal 
memory  "  of  a  departed  soul.  Good  bass  voices  are  espe- 
cially appreciated  in  the  Ectinia,  which  answers  to  the 
Litany  of  the  Latin  Church.  Extracts  from  the  Old 
Testament  and  from  the  Epistles  are  read  in  the  services 
as  collected  in  the  books  called  Minacon  and  Octocchos. 
When  the  Gospel  is  going  to  be  read  the  deacon  arouses 
the  attention  of  the  congregation  by  the  loud  exclamation 
of  "  Wisdom,  stand  up,  let  us  hear  the  Holy  Gospel !  " 
One  of  the  most  striking  parts  of  the  ordinary  service  is 
the  hymn  called  Trisagion,  or  thrice-holy,  a  hymn  so 
called  from  the  word  holy  being  thrice  repeated.  It  is  of 
high  antiquity  in  the  Church,  and  owes  its  origin,  as  is 
pretended,  to  a  miracle  in  the  time  of  Proclus,  Bishop  of 
Constantinople.  An  earthquake  happened  at  Constanti- 
nople which  lasted  four  months,  but  at  length,  while  the 
Emperor  Proclus  and  his  people  were  making  a  solemn 
procession  to  implore  the  mercy  of  God,  a  boy  from  the. 
midst  of  the  procession,  and  in  sight  of  all  the  people, 
was  taken  up  into  the  air,  where  he  heard  the  angels  sing- 
ing, "  O  holy  God,  O  holy  Mighty,  O  holy  Immortal, 
have  mercy  upon  us,"  which  he  desired  the  people  to  imi- 
tate, and  immediately  on  their  doing  so,  the  earthquake 
ceased  ;  therefore  henceforth,  by  order  of  the  Emperor 
Theodosius  Junior,  the  words  were  inserted  into  the 
daily  service.1 

The  sermons  preached  in  these  old  cathedrals  are 
usually  such  as  appeal  far  more  to  the  feelings  than  to 
the  intellect,  and  are  thus  the  more  adapted  to  the  Rus- 
sian mind.  The  following  passage  from  a  sermon  of 
Archbishop  Inokenti  (Innocent),  metropolitan  of  Kieff, 
preaching  over  the  coffin  of  our  Saviour  on  Good  Friday, 
is  an  illustration  of  discourses  of  this  kind  : — 

"  A  pious  hermit  had  once  to  speak  to  his  brethren,  who  were  waiting 
to  be  taught  by  him.  Filled  with  a  sense  of  the  poverty  of  mankind, 
the  old  man,  instead  of  attempting  any  teaching,  said,  '  Brethren,  let 
us  weep  ! '  and  they  all  fell  upon  the  ground  and  wept.  I  know  that 
you  now  expect  from  me  words  of  instruction,  but,  in  spite  of  myself, 
my  lips  are  closed  before  the  sight  of  our  Lord  in  his  coffin.  Who 
can  speak  when  He  is  silent  ?  Can  I  say  any  thing  more  to  you  of 
God  and  His  truth,  of  man  and  his  untruth,  which  can  affect  you  as 

i  See  King. 


SIMONOF.  261 

these  wounds  can  ?  Those  who  are  not  moved  by  them  can  never  be 
touched  by  the  word  of  man.  On  Golgotha  there  was  no  preaching, 
only  sobs  and  smiting  of  breasts  :  and  by  this  coffin  there  is  no  place 
for  preaching,  only  for  repentance  and  tears.  Brethren,  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  lies  there  !  Let  us  weep  and  pray  ! '  " 

In  the  open  burial  ground  of  the  Novospaski  monas- 
tery is  the  tomb  of  the  nun  Dosythea,  who  was  Tarakovna, 
a  daughter  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  by  Razumofsky. 
The  present  walls  of  the  monastery  were  built  1640-1642 
by  the  nun  Martha,  whose  son,  Michael  Romanoff,  had 
then  long  occupied  the  throne.  It  was  to  Novospaski 
that  the  metropolitan  Athanasius  retired  after  resigning 
his  office,  aghast  at  the  cruelties  of  Ivan  the  Terrible. 

Between  Novospaski  and  Simonof  we  pass  a  very  pic- 
turesque ancient  Russo-Saracenic  gateway.  Then  through 
a  bit  of  wild,  open  country  we  come  to  a  grove  of  trees, 
beyond  which,  on  the  edge  of  a  steep,  rise  the  walls  of 
the  great  monastery  of  Simonof,  which  was  founded  in 
1370  by  a  nephew  of  St.  Sergius,  on  a  site  chosen  by 
the  saint  himself.  The  imposing  circle  of  towers  on  the 
walls  resisted  many  sieges,  but  in  that  of  the  Poles  the 
place  was  taken  and  sacked.  It  once  possessed  twelve 
thousand  male  serfs  and  many  villages  ;  now  it  has  neither 
serf  nor  village.  Its  six  churches,  once  too  few,  are  now 
too  many. 

The  central  gate,  under  the  great  bell-tower,  has  long 
been  closed,  and  we  approach  the  monastery  by  a  sandy 
lane  between  the  walls  and  the  cliff.  Hence  we  enter  the 
inclosure — a  peaceful  retreat — with  an  avenue,  and,  in 
the  center,  a  tall  church,  with  the  five  bulbous  cupolas, 
said  to  represent  Christ  and  the  four  Evangelists,  in  the 
same  way  that  thirteen  are  said  to  represent  Christ  and  the 
twelve  Apostles.  All  around  are  little  houses  with  gay 
gardens  of  marigolds  and  dahlias,  and  bees  humming  in 
hedges  of  spiraea.  The  famous  metropolitan  St.  Jonah 
lived  here  as  a  monk.  On  the  iconastos  of  the  church  is 
the  icon  with  which  St.  Sergius  blessed  Dmitri  of  the 
Don,  when  he  went  forth  against  the  Tartars,  and  beneath 
are  buried  his  two  warrior  monks,  who  perished  in  the 
combat.1 

t  They  had  been  soldiers,  and  had  abandoned  the  military  for  the  ecclesiastical 
life.  Possibly  they  were  White  Brethren,  among  whom  former  soldiers  are  not 
uncommon  at  the  present  day. 


262  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

"  At  the  very  moment  of  the  decisive  battle  of  the  Don,  which  first 
shook  the  empire  of  the  Mongols  over  Russia,  the  aged  St.  Sergius 
was  supporting  Demetrius  by  his  prayers.  His  two  monks,  Peresvet 
and  Osliab,  fought  in  the  ranks,  with  the  schema  under  their  coats  of 
mail ;  and  Peresvet  began  the  engagement  by  a  single  combat  with  a 
gigantic  Tartar,  the  champion  of  the  horde.  He  sealed  with  his  blood 
the  approaching  deliverance  of  Russia,  and  was  the  precursor  of  those 
hero-monks  of  the  Trinity  Laura,  who  so  gloriously  distinguished 
themselves  in  other  days  of  no  less  danger  and  distress  to  their  coun- 
try. The  bodies  of  Peresvet  and  Osliab  were  laid  at  the  foundation 
of  the  Simonof  monastery,  when  it  was  first  built  on  the  original 
site. " — Mouravieff. 

In  this  and  other  Russian  monasteries,  strangers  are 
received  with  kindness,  but  with  more  than  rigid  simplic- 
ity. The  rule  of  St.  Basil  enjoins  hospitality  on  its 
monks,  but  they  are  forbidden  to  provide  any  thing  more 
than  the  necessaries  of  life  for  strangers  ;  to  do  so,  it 
says,  would  be  as  absurd  as  if  they  should  put  on  better 
clothes  in  which  to  receive  them,  adding  that  if  only  an 
austere  diet  is  provided,  the  monks  will  soon  be  rid  of  all 
merely  idle  visitors  of  a  worldly  spirit.1 

Most  pictorial  was  the  view  upon  which  we  looked 
toward  sunset  from  the  monastic  gate — the  rich  color  on 
the  old  red  walls  ;  the  sandy  road  winding  along  the  edge 
of  the  height,  and  peopled  by  groups  of  children  in  the 
brilliant  pink  and  blue  which.  Russians  love  ;  the  soft 
brilliant  green  of  the  meadows  below  fading  into  the 
silvery  gray  of  groves  of  willows  so  ancient  as  to  recall 
the  olives  of  Italy  ;  and  the  domes  of  distant  monasteries, 
purple  upon  an  amber  sky.  Often  a  fair  is  held  in  these 
meadows,  and  is  a  very  pretty  sight :  milk,  pans  of  honey, 
and  melons  at  10  kopecks  ($d.)  are  sold  there.  Among 
the  costumes,  the  passion  for  red  is  always  predominant, 
and  all  the  moujik  dandies,  in  black  knickerbockers  and 
well-shaped  boots  reaching  to  the  knee,  wear  scarlet 
shirts. 

"  La  chemise  rouge  ou  blanche  des  paysans,  boutonnee  sur  la  cla- 
vicule  et  serre'e  autour  des  reins  avec  une  ceinture,  par-dessus  laquelle 
le  haut  de  cette  espece  de  sayon  retombe  en  plis  antiques,  tandis  que 
le  bas  flotte  comme  une  tunique,  et  recouvre  le  pantalon  ou  on  ne 
I'enferme  pas  ;  la  longue  robe  a  la  persanne  souvent  ouverte,  et  qui 
lorsque  I'homme  ne  travaille  pas  recouvre  en  partie  cette  blouse,  les 
cheveux  longs  des  cote's  se'pares  sur  le  front,  mais  coupes  ras  par  der- 

I  Regul<e  fusius  explicate.     Reg.  20. 


SIMONOF. 


263 


riere  un  peu  plus  haut  que  la  nuque,  ce  qui  laisse  a  de'couvert  la  force 
du  col  :  tout  cet  ensemble  ne  compose-t-il  pas  un  costume  original  et 
gracieux  ?  L'air  doux  et  sauvage  a  la  fois  des  paysans  russes  n'est 
pas  denue  de  grace  :  leur  taille  elegante,  leur  force  qui  ne  nuit  pas  a 
la  legerete,  leur  souplesse,  leurs  larges  epaules,  le  sourire  doux  de  leur 
bouche,  le  melange  de  tendresse  et  de  ferocite  qui  se  retrouve  dans 
leur  regard  sauvage  et  triste,  leur  seul  aspect  aussi  diffe'rent  de  celui  de 
nos  laboureurs  que  les  lieux  qu'ils  habitent  et  le  pays  qu'ils  cultivent 
sont  differents  du  reste  de  1'Europe." — M.  de  Custine. 

In  such  clear  summer  evenings,  in  which  all  the  beauty 
depends  upon  the  pellucid  sky  and  the  atmospheric 
effects,  how  many  scenes  one  meets  with  which  recall  one 
of  the  word-pictures  of  Tourgueneff ! 


IN  THE  CONVENT  OF  SIMONOF. 


"The  day  was  rapidly  drawing  to  a  close  ;  the  sun  was  hidden 
behind  a  little  wood  of  aspens  situated  half  a  verst  distant,  and  cast  a 
boundless  shadow  over  the  motionless  fields  ;  a  peasant  on  a  white 
horse  was  trotting  along-  the  narrow  path  which  skirted  the  wood  ; 
although  he  was  in  shadow,  his  whole  figure  was  distinctly  visible,  and 
one  could  even  see  a  patch  upon  his  coat  at  the  shoulder  ;  the  horse's 
feet  moved  with  a  regularity  and  precision  pleasant  to  the  eye.  The 
rays  of  sun  penetrated  the  wood,  and  traversing  the  thicket,  colored 
the  stems  of  the  aspens  with  a  warm  tint  which  gave  them  the  appear- 
ance of  pine-trunks,  while  their  foliage,  almost  blue,  was  relieved 


264  STUDIES  IN  R USSIA . 

upon  a  pale  sky,  slightly  empurpled  by  the  twilight.  The  larks  were 
flying  very  high  ;  the  wind  had  entirely  gone  down  ;  the  belated  bees 
were  feebly  buzzing  in  the  syringa  flowers,  as  if  they  were  half  asleep; 
a  column  of  gnats  was  dancing  over  a  solitary  branch  which  stretched 
into  the  air." — Parents  and  Children. 


To  reach  the  Novo  Devichi  (the  Newly-saved)  Monas- 
tery, we  follow  the  road  we  took  to  the  Sparrow  Hills  as 
far  as  the  outskirts  of  Moscow.  Thence  a  wide  street, 
with  shabby  houses  scattered  along  it,  leads  to  a  sandy, 
dusty  plain,  whence  rise,  as  from  a  desert,  the  battle- 
mented  walls  and  weird,  lofty  gate  of  the  monastery, 
which  was  founded  in  1524  in  commemoration  of  the 
capture  of  Smolensk.  The  exterior  is  perhaps  the 
strangest,  the  interior  the  prettiest  of  all  the  monasteries. 
Masses  of  flowers,  carefully  tended  by  the  multitude  of 
nuns,  cluster  round  the  graves,  which  fill  most  of  the 
space  between  the  little  houses  and  the  church,  with  its 
many  domes  shrouded  in  a  veil  of  chain  work.  Little 
raised  paved  pathways  for  winter  lead  in  every  direc- 
tion. Silvery  bells  chime  from  the  great  tower.  A 
myriad  birds  perch  upon  the  aerial  webs  of  metal 
work — the  hated  sparrows,  as  well  as  the  honored 
swallows. 

"  When  the  Jews  were  seeking  for  Christ  in  the  garden,  says  a 
Kharkof  legend,  all  the  birds,  except  the  sparrow,  tried  to  draw  them 
away  from  his  hiding  place.  Only  the  sparrow  attracted  them  thither 
by  its  shrill  chirruping.  Then  the  Lord  cursed  the  sparrow,  and  for- 
bade that  men  should  eat  of  its  flesh.  In  other  parts  of  Russia  tradi- 
tion tells  us  that  before  the  crucifixion  the  swallows  carried  off  the 
nails  provided  for  the  use  of  the  executioners,  but  the  sparrows  brought 
them  back.  And  while  our  Lord  was  hanging  on  the  cross  the  spar- 
rows were  maliciously  exclaiming,  Jif  I  J*ft  or  '  He  is  living  !  He  is 
living  ! '  in  order  to  urge  on  the  tormentors  to  fresh  cruelties.  But 
the  swallows  cried,  with  opposite  intent,  Umer  !  Unier  !  '  He  is  dead  ! 
He  is  dead  ! '  Therefore  it  is,  that  to  kill  a  swallow  is  a  sin,  and  that 
its  nest  brings  good  luck  to  a  house.  But  the  sparrow  is  an  unwelcome 
guest,  whose  entry  into  a  cottage  is  a  presage  of  woe .  As  a  punish- 
ment for  its  sins  its  legs  have  been  fastened  together  by  invisible  bonds, 
and  therefore  it  always  hops,  not  being  able  to  run." — Ralston  (from 
Afanasief),  "  Russian  Folk  Tales." 

There  are  multitudes  of  small  birds,  but  it  is  affirmed 
that  there  are  no  magpies  within  thirty  miles  of  Moscow. 


NOVO  DEVICHI.  265 

The  golden  trowel  of  the  metropolitan  was  once  carried 
off  when  he  was  about  to  lay  a  foundation  stone.  The 
workmen  were  accused,  knouted,  and  sent  to  Siberia,  and 
then  the  bell-ringers  discovered  that  magpies  had  carried 
it  off  to  the  top  of  the  belfry,  and  the  birds  were  cursed 
accordingly. 

The  abbess  of  Novo  Devichi  came  and  talked  to  us 
while  we  drew  among  the  flowers,  gathered  nosegays  of 
zinnias,  sweet-peas  and  scabious  for  the  ladies  of  our 
party,  and  lamented  her  sorrows  in  the  perversion  of  a 
niece,  who,  after  the  privilege  of  being  educated  in  a 
convent,  had  declared  that  she  had  a  vocation  for — 
matrimony  !  Catherine  II.  founded  an  institution  here 


NOVO   DEVICHI   MONASTERY. 


for  the  education  of  two  hundred  noble  young  ladies  and 
two  hundred  and  forty  other  girls,  and  in  this  the  nuns 
are  chiefly  employed. 

In  the  church,  with  its  huge  pillars,  matted  floors,  and 
gorgeous  iconastos,  we  were  present  at  a  litany,  in  which 
a  solitary  nun  sang  the  responses  like  a  wail ;  all  the 
others,  in  their  long  black  robes  and  peaked  hoods,  only 
crossing  themselves  incessantly.  We  observed  here  how 
different  the  way  the  Russians  make  their  poklon,  or  sign 
of  the  cross,  is  to  that  of  Catholics.  The  little  and  third 
finger  are  drawn  back  into  the  hand  ;  the  two  others  and 
the  thumb  alone  project,  as  a  mystic  symbol  of  the 
Trinity ;  and  the  whole  body  is  bowed  at  the  same 
time. 


266  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

"  Grace,  affectation,  self-complacency,  devotion,  coldness,  pride,  all 
the  human  virtues  and  human  weaknesses  are  mirrored  in  these  bow- 
ings and  crossings.  There  is  no  end  of  them  in  the  churches,  and  a 
Russian  congregation  engaged  unceasingly  in  these  exercises  cer- 
tainly offers  the  strangest  spectacle  in  the  world.  On  the  festival  of 
the  Poklonenie  Andrai*  the  monks  must  make  two  hundred  crossings, 
bowings  and  prostrations,  one  after  another. 

"The  oddest  of  all  the  applications  of  the  sign  is  made  when 
yawning.  Whenever  the  mouth  involuntarily  opens  for  this  operation, 
which  may  well  excite  all  kinds  of  strange  fancies  among  a  superstitious 
people,  seeing  that  we  yawn  quite  against  our  will — the  Russian  thinks 
it  is  the  work  of  the  Evil  One  ;  and  that  the  devil  may  not  slip  in  to 
snap  up  the  soul,  the  sign  of  the  cross  must  be  made  before  the  mouth. 
This  notion  is  cherished  by  none  more  than  by  venerable  matrons,  and 
nothing  can  be  droller  than  to  see  an  old  Russian  woman  thus  busied 
in  defending,  against  the  devil,  the  mouth  that  she  finds  so  difficult  to 
keep  shut." — Kohl. 

It  was  in  this  convent  of  Novo  Devichi  that  the  "  dis- 
consolate Tsaritsa  "  Irene,  widow  of  Feodor,  and  daugh- 
ter-in-law of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  became  a  nun  after  the 
death  of  her  husband,  "  in  whose  person  the  race  of  Rurik, 
after  six  centuries,  bade  its  final  farewell  to  Russia,  and 
by  whose  departure  the  royal  house  of  Moscow  was  left 
tenantless." a  Though  Irene  had  refused  to  accept  the 
crown  which  was  offered  to  her,  all  public  business  con- 
tinued to  be  transacted  in  her  new  monastic  name  of 
Alexandra,  till,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  patriarch  Job, 
her  brother,  the  boyar  Boris  Godunof,  was  elected  to  the 
sovereignty. 

"For  a  long  time  Boris  refused  the  crown,  and  even  concealed 
himself  in  the  cell  of  the  Tsaritsa  his  sister.  Then  the  patriarch  went 
in  procession  with  the  cross,  accompanied  by  all  his  clergy,  and  with 
great  difficulty  persuaded  him  to  accept  it,  for  the  sake  of  the  icon  of 
our  Lady  of  Vladimir,  which  they  had  brought  to  him  to  the  con- 
vent. " — Mourayieff. 

But  the  chief  historic  associations  of  Novo  Devichi  are 
connected  with  the  Tsarevna  Sophia  Alexievna,  who 
governed  Russia  during  the  minority  of  Peter  the  Great. 
She  was  born  in  1658,  being  the  fourth  daughter  of  Tsar 
Alexis  by  his  first  wife  Maria  Ilinitchna,  of  the  family  of  the 
Miloslavski,  whose  quarrels  were  incessant  with  the  family 
of  the  Naryskins,  to  whom  Natalia,  second  wife  of  Alexis, 
belonged.  The  cleverness  of  the  Princess  Sophia,  and 

I  Crossings  in  honor  of  St.  Andrew.  2  Mpuravieff, 


THE  TSAREVNA  SOPHIA.  267 

her  attention  to  her  brother  Feodor  during  a  long  illness, 
gave  her  a  complete  ascendency  over  him,  and  she  was 
practically  the  ruler  of  Russia  during  his  reign,  acting 
under  the  advice  of  Vassili  Galatzin,  who  had  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  political  abilities  under  Alexis. 

Feodor  died  in  1682,  when  his  weak,  feeble-minded, 
whole  brother  Ivan  was  excluded  from  the  sovereignty, 
and  his  brilliant  half-brother  Peter  declared  Tsar.  The 
partisans  of  Peter  said  that  this  was,  first,  by  express 
appointment  of  Feodor,  and  secondly,  by  the  unanimous 
voice  of  the  nation.  The  fact  was  that,  when  the  courti- 
ers, officers,  and  ecclesiastics  met,  according  to  custom,  at 
the  Kremlin  to  kiss  the  hands  of  the  dead  Tsar,  they  also 
kissed  those  of  both  Ivan  and  Peter.  But  the  patri- 
arch Joachim  took  the  unusual  step  of  demanding 
which  of  the  brothers  they  would  nominate  as  Tsar, 
and  they  then  chose  Peter.  A  record  in  the  office 
for  Foreign  Affairs  also  states  that  Ivan  renounced  his 
rights,  because  it  was  desirable  that  his  brother  should 
be  elected,  to  avoid  complications  with  the  Tsaritsa 
Natalia,  who  was  still  alive.  The  report  that  the  election 
of  Peter  was  unanimous  is  extremely  improbable,  owing 
to  the  power  of  the  Miloslavski  and  Galitzin.  Still  he 
was  elected,  and,  during  his  childhood,  the  power  fell  to 
his  mother,  Natalia. 

Then  Sophia  and  her  maternal  relations,  the  Miloslav- 
ski, persuaded  the  strelitzi  or  streltsi — the  regiment  of 
guards — to  seize  the  Kremlin,  by  spreading  a  report  that 
Ivan  Alexievitch  was  murdered.  He  was  produced  to 
them  alive,  and,  after  seeing  him,  the  streltsi  would  have 
dispersed  peacefully,  if  Prince  Dolgorouki  had  not  had 
the  imprudence  to  threaten  them  with  punishment,  upon 
which  they  hacked  him  to  pieces,  and  massacred  a  great 
number  of  the  Naryskin  faction.  Henceforth  Ivan  and 
Peter  were  declared  joint  sovereigns ;  but,  on  account  of 
the  incapacity  of  Ivan  and  youth  of  Peter,  the  real  ruling 
power  rested  with  Sophia.  She  even  adopted  some  of 
the  outward  signs  of  sovereignty.  Her  image,  with  the 
crown  and  scepter,  was  stamped  on  one  side  of  coins,  on 
the  other  side  of  which  her  two  brothers  are  represented. 
In  public  processions  she  appeared  with  the  insignia  of 
royalty,  and  at  the  cathedral  services  she  usurped  the 


a68  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

throne  intended  only  for  the  Tsaritsa.  It  is  said,  but 
falsely,  that,  the  better  to  preserve  her  position,  she  neg- 
lected the  education  of  Peter,  and  encouraged  him,  by 
evil  companions,  to  profligacy  and  excess. 

It  was  in  September,  1689,  that  Peter  determined  to 
emancipate  himself  and  imprison  his  sister,  who  is 
groundlessly  asserted  to  have  tried  to  anticipate  her  fall 
by  his  assassination.  Having  been  joined  at  the  Troitsa, 
whither  he  had  fled,  by  the  nobles,  soldiers,  and  even  the 
patriarch  Joachim,  Peter  assembled  60,000  men  at  the 
church  of  St.  Basil,  gained  a  complete  victory,  banished 
Vassili  Galitzin  for  life,  and  shut  up  Sophia  in  Novo 
Devichi.  Here  she  was  at  first  allowed  well-furnished 
rooms  looking  out  on  the  Devichi  plain,  though  she  was 
never  allowed  to  go  out,  or  to  receive  any  visitors  except 
her  aunts  and  sisters,  and  these  only  on  great  festivals  of 
the  Church.1 

"  Sophia  s'etait  emancipee  de  la  reclusion  du  terem  comme  Pierre 
s'etait  emancipe  de  la  reclusion  du  palais  pour  courir  les  rues  et  naviguer 
sur  les  fleuves.  Tous  deux  avaient  term  une  conduite  scandaletise ', 
d'apres  les  idees  du  temps,  1'une  haranguant  les  soldats,  presidant  des 
conciles,  marchant  la/h/a  levee,  1'autre  maniant  la  hache  comme  un 
charpentier,  ramant  comme  un  simple  kosak,  fray  ant  avec  les  aventu- 
riers  etrangers,  se  colletant  avec  les  palefreniers  dans  les  combats 
simules.  Mais  pour  1'une  cette  emancipation  n'est  qu'un  moyen  pour 
arriver  au  pouvoir  ;  pour  1'autre,  1'emancipation  de  la  Russie,  comme 
la  sienne,  c'est  le  but.  II  veut  degager  la  nation  des  antiques  entraves 
qu'il  a  brisees  pour  lui-meme.  Sophie  reste  une  Byzantine,  Pierre 
aspire  a  etre  un  Europeen.  Dans  le  conflit  entre  la  tsarevna  et  le 
tsar,  ce  n'est  pas  du  cote  du  Ditvitchi  Monastyr  qu'est  le  progres." — 
A  If  red  Rambaud. 

In  1698,  the  revolution  of  the  streltsi  in  favor  of  Sophia, 
though  she  was  probably  innocent  of  it,  led  to  the  severe 
imprisonment  of  the  Tsarevna  in  the  convent  (in  which 
she  had  already  resided  nine  years)  under  a  guard  of  a 
hundred  soldiers.  She  was  now  forced  to  take  religious 
vows,  and,  as  the  nun  Susanna,  was  not  allowed  to  see 
even  the  members  of  her  family,  except  under  the  strict- 
est precautions.  Nevertheless,  though  many  of  the 
prisoners  were  put  to  the  torture  to  induce  them  to  avow 
it,  no  proofs  could  be  brought  against  Sophia  of  the  mur- 
derous plots  against  Peter  of  which  she  was  accused. 

i  See  Schuyler's  Life  of  Peter  the  Great. 


THE  DONSKOI  MONA S TER  Y.  26 g 

Two  thousand  of  the  streltsi  were  executed  ;  and,  to 
strike  terror  into  the  unfortunate  Tsarevna,  a  hundred 
and  ninety-five  of  them  were  hanged  on  a  square  gallows 
in  front  of  her  cell ;  and  three  were  left  hanging  all 
winter  so  close  to  her  windows  that  she  could  have 
touched  them,1  one  of  the  corpses  holding  in  his  hand  a 
folded  paper  to  represent  a  petition.  It  is  interesting  to 
possess  a  portrait  of  the  captive  princess,  though  it  is  not 
a  pleasant  one. 

"  Her  mind  and  her  ability  bear  no  relation  to  the  deformity  of  her 
person,  as  she  is  immensely  fat,  with  a  head  as  large  as  a  bushel,  hairs 
on  her  face,  and  tumors  on  her  legs,  and  at  least  forty  years  old.  But 
in  the  same  degree  that  her  stature  is  broad,  short,  and  coarse,  her 
mind  is  shrewd,  unprejudiced,  and  full  of  policy." — De  Neuville,  1689. 

The  unfortunate  Sophia  died  July,  1704,  and  was  buried 
in  the  church  with  several  of  her  sisters.  Her  tomb  is 
inscribed  : 

"A.  M.  7213.  On  the  third  of  July  died  Sophia  Alexievna,  aged 
forty-six  years,  nine  months,  and  six  days  :  her  monastic  name  was 
Susanna.  She  had  been  a  nun  five  years,  eight  months  and  twelve 
days.  She  was  buried  on  the  fourth  in  this  church,  called  the  Image 
of  Smolensko.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Alexis  Michailovitch,  and  of 
Maria  Ilinitchna." 

Peter  had  always  admired  the  genius  of  Sophia.  u  What 
a  pity,"  he  said,  "  that  she  persecuted  me  in  my  minority, 
and  that  I  can  not  repose  any  confidence  in  her,  otherwise 
when  I  am  employed  abroad  she  might  govern  at  home." a 


There  is  but  a  short  distance  between  Novo  Devichi 
and  the  Donskoi  Monastery.  An  ugly  suburban  street 
ends  near  the  monastic  walls  girded  with  richly  orna- 
mented towers.  The  monastery  was  founded  in  1592  to 
commemorate  the  gift  of  a  sacred  picture  by  Kalmucks 
of  the  Don  to  Dmitri,3  the  same  picture  which  in  after 
times  was  carried  by  Dmitri  at  the  famous  battle  of  Kuli- 
kovo  when  he  gained  his  great  victory  over  the  Tartars, 

1  Gordon,  pp.  95,  100. 

2  Sophia  had  considerable   literary  power.     She  translated  Le  Mtdicin  malgrt 
lui  of  Moliere  into  Russian,  and  composed  a  tragedy — the  first  extant  in  the  Rus- 
sian language. 

3  StrahU  168. 


270  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

and  by  Boris  Godunof  in  the  battle  of  Moscow.  A  stone 
church  was  built  at  the  monastery  in  its  honor.1 

It  was  from  the  Donskoi  monastery  that  Archbishop 
Ambrose  was  dragged  by  the  people  and  torn  to  pieces 
in  the  reign  of  Catherine  II.,  because,  to  prevent  con- 
tagion during  the  plague,  he  had  removed  a  favorite  icon 
to  which  they  had  crowded,  and  shut  it  up.2 

There  are  pretty  fields  with  groups  of  fine  trees  and  a 
wooden  village,  beyond  the  monastery.  The  gray  monoto- 
nous tints  of  life  among  the  peasantry  in  such  a  village 
are  described  in  the  poems  of  Nicholas  Nekrasov,  who 


THE   DONSKOI    MONASTERY. 


died  in  1877.  Better  known,  however,  are  the  descrip- 
tions of  Gogol  (1808-1852),  the  Russian  Dickens;  his 
characters  have  become  known  through  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  empire,  and  his  descriptions  are  all  taken 
from  real  life.  In  these  wooden  villages  there  is  the  still- 
ness and  calm  of  ages. 

"  There  is  noise  in  the  capitals,  the  orators  thunder, 

The  war  of  words  rages  ; 
But  here,  in  the  depths  of  Russia, 
Is  the  silence  of  centuries, 

-   i  Karamsin,  x. 
2  See  Voltaire,  Lettres  de  Pimperatrice  de  Russie.       Lett.  94. 


THE  TKOITSA.  271 

Only  the  wind  gives  no  rest 

To  the  tops  of  the  willows  along  the  road, 

And  kissing  mother  earth, 

The  ears  of  the  illimitable  cornfield 

Bend  themselves  in  an  arch." 

Nekrasov  (trans,  by  W.  R.  Morfill.) 

A  good-natured,  stolid,  grave  taciturnity  is  the  charac- 
teristic of  the  Russian  moujik. 

"  Le  peuple,  serieux  par  necessite  plus  que  par  nature,  n'ose  guere 
rire  du  regard  ;  mais  a  force  de  paroles  reprimees.  ce  regard,  anime  par 
le  silence,  supplee  a  1'eloquence,  tant  il  donne  de  passion  a  la  physi- 
onomie.  II  est  presque  toujoursspirituel,  quelquefois  doux,  lent,  plus 
souvent  triste  jusqu'a  la  ferocite  ;  il  tient  de  celui  de  la  bete  fauve 
prise  au  piege." — M.  de  Custine. 

Ralston  gives  a  pleasant  picture  of  a  holiday  in  a  vil- 
lage of  this  kind. 

"When  a  holiday  arrives,  in  fine  spring  weather  even  the  saddest- 
looking  of  Russian  hamlets  assumes  a  lively  aspect.  In  front  of  their 
wooden  huts  the  old  people  sit  '  simply  chatting  in  a  rustic  row  ; ' 
the  younger  men  and  women  gather  together  in  groups,  each  sex  apart 
from  the  other,  and  talk  about  their  fields  and  their  flocks,  their  fam- 
ilies and  their  household  affairs.  Across  the  river  they  see  their  horses, 
free  from  labor  for  the  day,  browsing  in  green  meadows  ;  above  the 
copse  rises  the  blue  cupola  of  a  neighboring  church  ;  beyond  the  log 
houses  a  streak  of  road  stretches  away  into  the  distance,  and  loses 
itself  among  the  woods  which  darken  the  plain  and  fringe  the  horizon. 
Along  the  village  streets  and  the  slope  toward  the  river  stroll  the  young 
girls  in  their  holiday  array,  merrily  wending  toward  the  open  space  in 
which  the  Khorovods  are  always  held,  and  singing  as  they  go." — 
"  Songs  of  the  Russian  People" 


The  queen  of  the  monasteries  of  Great  Russia,  the  holy 
of  holies,  is  undoubtedly  the  famous  Troitsa,  forty  versts, 
or  thirty  miles,  from  Moscow,  which  is  now  reached  in  an 
hour  and  twenty  minutes  by  rail  on  the  line  to  Yaroslaf  ; 
but  devout  Russians  still  make  the  pilgrimage  on  foot. 
The  Greek  Princess  Sophia,  wife  of  Ivan  the  Great,  thus 
made  this  pilgrimage,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  son,  upon 
which  St.  Sergius  appeared  to  her,  bearing  a  beautiful 
male  child,  and  "  threw  it  into  her  bosom,"  and  it  was 
born  nine  months  afterward.1  Hither  Ivan  the  Terrible 
came,  with  his  first  wife  Anastasia,  to  return  thanks  for 

I  Karamsin,  vi. 


272  STUDIES  IN  7e  USSIA . 

the  birth  of  his  eldest  son  Dmitri.  Sir  Jerome  Horsey 
records  the  first  pilgrimage  hither  of  the  Tsaritsa  Maria, 
daughter  of  the  infamous  Malouta  Skouratof,  but  herself 
the  gentle  wife  of  Boris  Godunof,  after  their  popular 
election  and  coronation,  in  June,  1584. 

"  The  Empresse  of  deuotion  tooke  this  journey  on  foot  all  the  way, 
accompanied  with  her  princesses  and  ladies,  no  small  number ;  her 
guard  and  gunners  were  in  number  20,000." 

Boris  Godunof  and  Maria  came  again  on  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  Troitsa,  and  spent  nine  days  at  the  tomb  of  St. 
Sergius,  imploring  the  blessing  of  heaven  upon  the  mar- 
riage of  their  daughter  Xenia  with  Duke  John  of  Denmark, 
but  on  their  return  to  Moscow,  before  the  marriage  could 
take  place,  the  bridegroom  died  ;  for  this  time  the  Tsar- 
itsa had  not  made  the  pilgrimage  on  foot,  but  in  a  mag- 
nificent coach  drawn  by  ten  horses. 

The  Empress  Catherine  II.  made  the  pilgrimage  on 
foot  with  all  her  court,  only  going  five  miles  a  day,  with 
vessels  of  Neva  water  always  ready  to  refresh  her. 

The  railway-line,  as  usual,  leads  through  the  central 
forests  of  fir-trees,  which  the  Russians  regard  with  a  con- 
tempt indicated  in  the  well-known  proverb  :  "  Koli  khle- 
ba  krai',  tak  y  pod  yeliu  rai."  "  Where  there  is  plenty  of 
bread  it  is  paradise,  even  under  the  fir-tree." 

The  monastery  of  Troitsa  is  about  half  a  mile  from  the 
station,  covering  the  summit  of  a  low  hill  with  its  glitter- 
ing domes  and  cupolas,  all  incased  in  metal  and  rising 
from  embattled  walls  above  the  little  town.  It  dates 
from  1342,  when  it  was  founded  by  St.  Sergius  of  Ra- 
donegl  (1315-92,  canonized  1428),  a  hermit  of  these 
central  forests,  the  hero  of  a  thousand  legends,  amidst 
which  one  story  shines  out  as  a  fact :  that  when  Dmitri 
of  the  Don,  himself  almost  a  saint,  shrank  from  the  Tar- 
tars, it  was  Sergius  who  urged  him  on  to  the  great  victory 
which  gave  him  his  illustrious  name.  The  monks  Peres- 
vet  and  Osliab  accompanied  him  to  the  battle  and  fought 
beside  him  in  coats  of  mail  as  he  sang  the  forty-sixth 
Psalm  on  the  battle-field.1 

1 '  With  the  name  of  Sergius  a  new  monastic  world  opens  itself  in 
the  north.  The  commencement  of  his  lonely  hermitage  in  the  woods 

i  See  Mouravieff,  62. 


THE  TROITSA.  273 

near  Moscow  is  a  point  of  as  much  importance  in  Russian  history  as 
the  excavation  of  the  cave  of  Anthony  on  the  banks  of  the  Dnieper. 
.  .  .  Sergius  built  by  his  own  labor  in  the  midst  of  the  forest  a 
wooden  church,  by  the  name  of  the  Source  of  Life,  the  ever-blessed 
Trinity,  which  has  since  grown  into  that  glorious  laura  whose  destiny 
has  become  inseparable  from  the  destinies  of  the  capital,  and  from 
whence  on  so  many  occasions  the  salvation  of  all  Russia  has  pro- 
ceeded. " — Mouravieff. 

"  Ce  qui  avait  fait  la  gloire  de  Kieff,  1'ancienne  me'tropole,  c'etait 
cet  illustre  monastere  de  Petcherski,  avec  les  saintes  catacombes  et  les 
tombeaux  de  tant  d'ascetes  et  de  thaumaturges.  Cet  heritage  de  ver- 
tus  et  de  glorieuse  austerite,  Moscou  1'eut  aussi  en  partage.  Dans  une 
profonde  foret  ou  il  n'eut  d'abord  pour  compagnon  qu'un  ours,  sur  le 
cours  d'eau  qui  n'avait  d'autres  riverains  que  les  castors,  Saint  Serge 
fonda  ce  monastere  de  Troitsa  (la  Trinit/)  qui  devait  devenir  Tun  des 
plus  vene'res  et  les  plus  opulents  de  la  Russie  orientale.  Par  la  suite, 
en  effet,  ses  richesses  s'accroissant,  il  dut  s'entourer  de  remparts  ;  et 
ses  e'paisses  murailles  de  briques,  avec  un  triple  e'tage  d'embrasures. 
ses  neuf  tours  de  guerre,  toutes  ses  fortifications  encore  aujourd'hui 
subsistantes  devaient  braver  plus  tard  les  assauts  de  catholiques  et  des 
infideles." — Rambaud,  "Hist,  de  la  Russie" 

In  1408  the  monastery  was  sacked  by  the  Tartars,  but 
it  was  re-established  in  1423. 

"  In  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Troitsa  was  the 
center  of  the  national  resistance  to  the  Polish  rule.  It  spent  its  enor- 
mous wealth  in  the  deliverance  of  the  country.  In  1609  it  successfully 
withstood  a  siege  of  sixteen  months  from  the  Poles,  under  Lissovski 
and  the  Hetman  Sapieha.  Then  the  Poles  sought,  equally  in  vain,  to 
gain  it  by  bribery  for  the  false  Demetrius.  When  the  siege  was 
raised,  the  monastery  sent  its  treasures  to  be  sold  at  Moscow,  to  pro- 
vide for  the  troops.  When  Moscow  fell  under  the  Polish  rule,  after 
the  fall  of  Shuiski,  the  nucleus  of  resistance  was  again  formed  at  the 
Troitsa.  The  Abbot  Dionisi  and  the  steward  Abrami  Palitzin  as- 
sembled an  armed  force,  and  summoned  all  faithful  boyars  to  the  de- 
liverance of  their  'holy  mother  Moscow.'  They  induced  Prince 
Troubetskoi  to  risk  the  battle,  by  which  he  gained  possession  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  city  and  drove  the  Poles  behind  the  walls  of  the 
Khitaigorod.  The  summons  which  the  Troitsa  sent  to  Kazan  and 
Nijni  Novogorod  eventually  led  to  the  general  revolt,  under  Minin 
and  Pojarskoi,  which  freed  Russia  from  the  Polish  yoke.  In  1615  the 
Troitsa  was  again  besieged  by  the  Polish  prince  Vladislaf,  who 
claimed  the  Russian  throne  in  opposition  to  the  Romanoffs.  But 
after  a  bloody  assault  he  was  repulsed,  and,  in  1619,  under  the  walls 
of  the  monastery,  a  peace  was  concluded,  ever  since  which  the  balance 
of  power  has  inclined  toward  Russia. 

;<  Finally  in  the  monastery  of  Troitsa,  the  brother-Tsars  Ivan  and 
Peter  found  a  refuge  from  the  strelitzes  in  1685,  and  again  Peter  I. 
took  refuge  here  in  1689,  and  while  here  destroyed  the  power  of  his 
sister  Sophia." — From  the  "  Life  of  St.  Sergius"  by  Philaret,  Metro- 
politan of  Moscow. 


274  S  T  UDIES  IN  R  USSfA . 

The  lands  of  the  monastery,  curtailed  by  Peter  the 
Great,  were  taken  away  by  Catherine  II.  At  the  confis- 
cation it  was  found  that  the  Troitsa  possessed  107,000 
peasants,  which  at  present  would  represent  an  estate  of 
about  3,750,0007.  Napoleon  sent  out  from  Moscow  to 
destroy  the  Troitsa,  but  it  is  believed  that  the  Virgin  and 
St.  Sergius  saved  it. 

The  great  office  of  archimandrite  of  the  Troitsa  has 
long  been  considered  too  great  to  be  held  by  any  but  the 
metropolitan,  and  the  hegumenos  or  prior,  one  of  the 
greatest  dignitaries  in  Russia,  still  lives  in  the  greatest 
state,  though  supported  now  entirely  by  the  offerings  of 
pilgrims. 

The  "  monastery  "  is  surrounded  by  embattled  walls, 
one  mile  in  circuit,  upon  which  a  raised  covered  way 
affords  a  most  agreeable  walk.  In  one  of  the  towers  is  a 
dungeon  and  oubliette,  made  by  Ivan  the  Terrible. 

"  A  fine  arched  gateway  opens  from  the  public  square  into  the  outer 
courts,  and  entering  you  find  yourself  in  the  sacred  precincts — large 
grassy  places,  shady  trees,  paved  pathways,  broad  and  orderly, 
churches,  offices,  halls — a  picturesque  carelessness  of  arrangement, 
a  rich  and  beautiful  seclusion,  a  place  of  repose  and  rest,  of  study  and 
meditation.  That  peculiar  charm  pervades  it  which  one  experiences  on 
entering  a  cathedral.  You  feel  inclined  to  sit  down  and  be  silent,  and 
let  your  spirit  partake  of  the  beauty  and  sentiment  of  the  genius  loci" 
—G.  7\  Lowth. 

As  the  Kremlin  of  Moscow  is  not  merely  a  palace  but 
a  town,  so  the  Troitsa  is  not  merely  a  monastery  but  a 
town,  with  an  imperial  palace,  archiepiscopal  palace,  nine 
churches,  a  hospital,  a  bazar,  and  innumerable  dwellings. 
Avenues  of  lime-trees  intersect  the  inclosure,  in  which  a 
vast  republic  of  crows  and  ravens  dwells  unmolested. 
In  the  center  is  the  great  bell-tower  of  Rastrelli  (1769), 
two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  with  a  chime  of  thirty- 
five  bells.  The  oldest  of  the  churches  is  the  Troitsa 
(Trinity),  which  is  entered  through  a  portico  used  as  a 
bazar,  full  of  tapers,  icons,  oil-cans,  and  printed  forms 
urging  visitors  not  to  be  beguiled  into  buying  outside, 
as  the  church  wares  are  better.  The  lamps  and  tapers 
are  to  be  offered  to  St.  Sergius,  whose  shrine  of  silver 
weighs  936  Ibs. 


THE  TROITSA.  275 

"  They  showed  me  a  coffin  covered  with  cloth  of  gold  which  stoode 
upon  one  side  within  their  church,  in  which  they  told  me  lay  a  holy 
man,  who  never  eate  or  dranke,  and  yet  that  he  liueth.  And  they  told 
me  (supposing  that  I  had  beleeved  them)  that  he  healeth  many  diseases, 
and  giueth  the  blind  their  sight,  with  many  other  miracles,  but  I  was 
hard  of  belieuf  because  I  saw  him  work  no  miracle  whilest  I  was 
there. ' ' — A  nthonie  Jenkinson,  1557. 

Ivan  the  Terrible  (Ivan  IV.),  brought  hither  from 
Moscow  ten  days  after  his  birth,  was  laid  upon  this  tomb 
by  his  father,  Vassili  Ivanovitch,  with  the  prayer  that 
St.  Sergius  would  be  his  guide  and  protector  through  life.1 

Painted  on  portions  of  the  coffin  of  the  saint  are  two 
portraits  of  him,  which  are  copied  in  a  hundred  thousand 
icons  all  over  Russia.  With  one  of  the  original  portraits 
in  his  hands,  the  unfortunate  Grand  Prince  Vassili  (1446) 
vainly  sought  a  refuge  in  the  church  against  the  myrmi- 
dons of  his  cruel  cousin  Shemiaka,  by  whom  he  was 
dragged  to  Moscow,  where  his  eyes  were  put  out.  The 
Tsar  Alexis,  and  afterward  Peter  the  Great,  carried  one 
of  the  portraits  into  battle  ;  for  Peter,  who  had  a  small 
opinion  of  icons  in  general,  had  a  great  veneration  for 
those  of  the  Troitsa,  which  twice  gave  him  a  refuge  from 
the  streltsi  in  his  early  life.  The  picture  of  St.  Sergius 
he  looked  upon  as  a  palladium  in  all  his  campaigns,  and 
it  is  inscribed  with  the  names  of  all  the  battles  and 
sieges  at  which  it  has  been  present. 

It  is  believed  that  St.  Sergius  has  already  several  times 
appeared  to  warn  his  country  of  dangers,  or  to  avert 
them  ;  and  according  to  Innocent  of  Odessa,  he  has  still 
to  appear  again.2 

The  Church  of  the  Rest  of  the  Virgin  (Uspenski  Sobor) 
is  the  largest  and  most  gorgeous  of  the  monastic  churches. 
It  has  five  cupolas.  The  baluster  pillars  of  the  entrance 
support  an  arch  with  a  pendant  in  the  middle — a  strange 
design,  which  Russian  architects  are  never  weary  of 
repeating,  but  which  is  at  least  original.  The  great  roll  over 
the  door  may  also  be  observed  as  a  peculiar  (and  ugly  ?) 
characteristic  of  Russian  architecture.  Within  the  church 
we  may  see  the  representation — often  repeated  in  Russia 
— of  St.  Sophia  (Divine  Wisdom)  and  her  three  daughters, 
Vera,  Nadezhda,  and  Liubof  (Faith,  Hope,  and  Love). 

i  Karamsin,  vii,  z  See  his  sermon  at  Sebastopol, 


276  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

In  this  church  rests  at  last  the  Tsar  Boris  Godunof 
(1584-1605).  After  the  death  of  Feodor  Ivanovitch,  who 
had  married  his  sister  Irene,  he  had  been  raised  to  the 
throne,  elected  chiefly  through  the  influence  of  the  landed 
proprietors  and  the  clergy.  The  former  he  had  gained 
over  by  persuading  Feodor  to  publish  a  ukaz  interdicting 
peasants  forever  from  passing  from  the  lands  of  one  pro- 
prietor to  those  of  another,  and  thus  instituting  in  Russia 
the  serfdom  of  the  East.  With  this  he  combined  great 
views  for  the  education  of  his  people.  The  clergy  he  had 
conciliated  by  inducing  Feodor  to  found  the  patri- 
archate. 

' '  Les  ecclesiastiques  russes  se  plaignaient  avec  raison  d'obeir  a  des 
patriarches  qui  etaient  eux-memes  des  esclaves  des  infideles.  L'ancienne 
Rome  e'tait  souillee  par  le  papisme ;  Constantinople,  la  seconde  Rome, 
etait  profanee  par  le  Turc  ,  Moscou,  la  troisieme  Rome,  n'etait-elle 
pas  en  droit  d'avoir  au  molns  I'independance  ?  Boris  encourageait  les 
reclamations.  II  profita  du  passage  a  Moscou  de  Jere'mie,  patriarche 
de  Constantinople,  pour  1'engager  a  fonder  le  patriarchat  russe." — 
Rambaud. 

In  1605  Boris  fortunately  died  in  peace  (though  some 
say  of  poison),  recommending  his  son  to  the  care  of  the 
powerful  boyar  Basmanof,  and,  after  the  custom  of  dying 
Tsars,  receiving  the  monastic  habit,  and  changing  his 
name  (to  Bogolup).  But  the  false  Dmitri  was  then 
approaching  Moscow.  Basmanof  betrayed  his  young 
master,  who  was  murdered  together  with  the  widowed 
Tsaritsa  ;  and  the  body  of  the  Tsar  Boris,  buried  in  state 
with  his  predecessors,  was  exhumed  from  the  church  of 
St.  Michael,  and  treated  with  great  ignominy.  It  is  at 
the  Troitsa  that  Boris  has  at  length  found  a  resting-place  ; 
and  to  the  same  grave,  from  the  monastery  where  they 
were  first  buried,  have  been  transferred  the  bodies  of  his 
innocent  son  Feodor,  a  youth  of  great  promise,  and  of 
his  wife  Maria,  who,  as  daughter  of  the  infamous  Malouta 
Skouratovitch,  the  cruel  instrument  of  Ivan  the  Terrible, 
had  inherited  a  legacy  of  popular  hatred,  yet  had  lived  to 
overcome  it  by  a  life  of  gentleness  and  charity.  In  this 
church  we  also  find  tombs  of  the  Princes  Odeyevski, 
Galitzin,  Trubetskoi,  Volinski,  Soltikov,  Glinski,  Varotin- 
ski,  Shuiski,  Pojarskoi,  Skopni,  and  Mestcherski — names 
which  occur  frequently  in  the  history  of  Russia.  The 


THE  TROITSA.  277 

traveler  Clarke  was  present  here  at  the  funeral  of  Prince 
Galitzin. 

"  The  lid  of  the  coffin  being  removed,  the  body  of  the  prince  was 
exposed  to  view,  and  a41  the  relatives,  servants,  slaves,  and  other 
attendants,  began  the  salutation,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  coun- 
try. Each  person,  walking  round  the  corpse,  made  prostration  before 
it,  and  kissed  the  lips  of  the  deceased.  The  venerable  figure  of  an  old 
slave  presented  a  most  affecting  spectacle.  He  threw  himself  flat  on 
the  pavement  with  a  degree  of  violence  ;  and,  quite  stunned  by  the 
blow,  remained  a  few  seconds  insensible  ;  afterward,  his  loud  lamenta- 
tions were  heard,  and  we  saw  him  tearing  off  and  scattering  his  white 
hairs.  He  had,  according  to  the  custom  of  Russia,  received  his  liberty 
upon  the  death  of  the  prince  ;  but  choosing  rather  to  consign  himself 
for  the  remainder  of  his  days  to  a  convent,  he  retired  forever  from 
the  world,  saying,  '  Since  his  dear  old  master  was  dead,  there  was  no 
one  living  who  cared  for  him.  '  " — Clarke's  "Travels :" 

Outside  the  church  is  the  tomb  of  Maria,  Queen  of 
Livonia,  the  only  person  who  bore  that  title,  a  grand- 
daughter of  Ivan  Vassilievitch.  She  married  Magnus, 
Duke  of  Holstein,  made  titular  king  of  Livonia  by  Ivan 
Vassilievitch  II.,  who  removed  him  ignominiously  from 
his  throne  four  years  later.  During  the  reign  of  Feodor, 
Queen  Maria  and  her  daughter  Eudoxia  were  shut  up  in 
a  convent1  by  Boris  Godunof,  who  dreaded  their  claim 
to  the  throne  on  the  death  of  the  sovereign.  They  rest 
together  near  the  tomb  of  their  persecutor.  A  two-headed 
eagle  commemorates  the  concealment  of  Peter  the  Great 
from  the  streltsi  in  this  church. 

"  Natalia  (the  Tsaritsa)  was  permitted  to  conceal  himself,  not  only 
within  the  precincts  of  the  convent,  not  only  within  the  walls  of  the 
principal  church,  but  behind  the  sacred  screen,  beside  the  altar  itself, 
where,  by  the  rules  of  the  Eastern  Church,  no  woman's  foot  is  allowed 
to  enter.  That  altar  (still  remaining  on  the  same  spot)  stood  between 
the  past  and  the  future  destinies  of  Russia.  On  one  side  of  it  crouched 
the  mother  and  her  son  ;  and  on  the  other,  the  fierce  soldiers  were 
waving  their  swords  over  the  head  of  the  royal  child.  '  Comrade, 
not  before  the  altar  ! '  exclaimed  the  more  pious  or  the  most  merciful 
of  the  two  assassins.  At  that  moment  a  troop  of  faithful  cavalry 
galloped  into  the  courtyard,  and  Peter  was  saved.'  " — Stanley ',  "'The 
Eastern  Church"* 

1  See  Karamsin. 

2  It   is  said  that   twenty  years     after  Peter  recognized    the   soldier  who   had 
threatened  him,  though  disguised  in   a  seaman's   dress,  and   started   back  with  an 
instinct  of  horror.     Peter  forgave  him,  but  forbade  him  ever  to  appear  again  in  his 
presence,  as  not  daring  to  trust  himself  to  look  at    the  man   who  had  once  so  filled 
him  with  terror.     See  Stahlin,  26. 


278  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

Very  near  this  church  is  a  well,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  dug  by  St.  Sergius,  though  only  discovered  in  1644, 
when  the  convent  was  grievously  in  need  of  water. 

The  Church  of  St.  Sergius,  built  in  1692,  contains 
curious  frescoes.  In  the  Church  of  St.  Peter  is  a  remark- 
able picture  of  the  Temptation.  For  forty  days  after 
death,  it  is  said,  the  soul  is  attended  by  its  guardian 
angels  who  conduct  it  on  the  road  toward  heaven,  but  it  is 
met  by  the  remembrance  of  all  its  sins,  and  assailed  by 
all  temptations  which  have  been  victorious  in  its  past 
life.  The  Church  of  the  Descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was 
founded  by  Ivan  the  Great  after  the  capture  of  Kazan. 
It  was  Archbishop  Bassian  of  Rostoff,  formerly  prior  of 
the  Troitsa,  who  had  urged  the  Tsar  to  battle  when  he 
had  returned  from  his  camp  to  Moscow.  "  Dost  thou 
fear  death  ? "  he  wrote  ;  "  thou  too  must  die  as  well  as 
others.  Death  is  the  lot  of  all,  of  man,  beast,  and  bird 
alike  ;  none  can  avoid  it.  Give  thy  warriors  into  my 
hand,  and,  old  as  I  am,  I  will  not  spare  myself,  and  will 
never  turn  my  back  upon  the  Tartars."  Upon  this  Ivan 
took  courage,  and  went  back  to  his  camp  :  Achmet  Khan 
fled  without  fighting,  the  Golden  Horde  had  armed  itself 
for  the  last  time,  and  Russia  was  set  free  forever. 

The  Church  of  Philaret  the  Benefactor  was  only  conse- 
crated in  1867,  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  episco- 
pate of  the  beloved  metropolitan  Philaret,  who  was  buried 
at  the  Troitsa,  November,  1867.  Of  all  the  well-known 
Russian  monks,  Philaret  was  perhaps  the  one  who  most 
devoutly  endeavored  to  follow  the  teachings  of  the 
founder,  St.  Basil,  by  whom  a  monk  was  defined  as  one 
whose  prayer  is  continual,  who  mingles  it  with  the  daily 
duties  of  life,  whose  heart  is  constantly  lifted  up  to  God, 
and  whose  chief  object  in  study  is  to  purify  his  soul  by 
ceaseless  meditation  on  the  teaching  of  Holy  Scripture.1 

The  tombs  of  the  metropolitans  and  bishops  buried  at 
the  Troitsa  are  among  the  most  interesting  objects  it 
contains,  but  it  will  be  difficult  for  strangers  to  distinguish 
them  from  the  explanation  of  their  Russian  guides.  They 
are  mostly  covered  with  rich  palls,  and  many  have  burn- 
ing lamps.  They  include  the  tombs  of  St.  Serapion,  the 
deposed  Lord  of  Novogorod  (1511),  who  died  here  in  the 

I  See  the  Letters  of  St,  Basil  to  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen. 


THE  TROITSA.  279 

act  of  prayer,  and  by  his  side  the  holy  metropolitan 
Joasaph  (1539),  also  deposed  early  in  the  reign  of  Ivan 
the  Terrible. 

The  treasury  is  full  of  priceless  robes,  jewels,  and  plate, 
offered  to  the  monastery,  for  in  the  offerings  of  its  pil- 
grims the  Troitsa  may  be  regarded  as  the  Loretto  of 
Russia  ;  indeed  there  are  said  to  be  more  pearls  here  than 
in  all  the  rest  of  Europe  put  together.  In  one  of  the 
miters  of  the  archimandrite  is  a  ruby  valued  at  five  thou- 
sand roubles.  Another  miter  is  worth  fifty  thousand  roubles, 
and  a  panagion  thirty  thousand,  both  presented  by  the 
Empress  Elizabeth.1  Nothing,  however,  is  so  interesting 
as  the  rude  wooden  chalice  and  paten,  and  the  primitive 
hair  dress  of  the  founder,  St.  Sergius.  The  hunting- 
coat  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  an  ivory  ball  which  Peter  the 
Great  turned  when  he  was  here,  and  a  polished  agate  on 
which  a  crucifix  appears  by  a  freak  of  nature,  are  shown 
among  the  curiosities. 

"Ondit  qu'un  homme  en  Russia  avait  propose  de  composer  un 
alphabet  avec  des  pierres  precieuses,  et  d'ecrire  ainsi  la  Bible.  II  con- 
naissait  la  meilleure  maniere  d'interesser  a  la  lecture  1'imagination  des 
Russes." — Madame  de  Stael. 

There  is  a  noble  Refectory,  always  smelling  terribly  of 
the  cabbage  they  adore,  where  the  four  hundred  monks 
dine,  and  an  outhouse  for  the  pilgrims,  who  are  fed  on 
rye  bread  and  soup,  and  permitted  to  sleep  upon  sacking 
in  a  kind  of  loft.  There  is  also  a  Hospital  for  the  pil- 
grims, with  a  separate  room  on  the  ground  floor  for  those 
who  are  dying.  The  Theological  Academy,  founded  by 
Elizabeth  in  1749,  has  above  a  hundred  students. 

The  little  residences  of  the  monks  are  very  comfortably 
furnished,  and  the  inmates  may  have  their  own  books, 
birds,  and  flowers.  Multitudes  of  pigeons  flit  about  the 
whole  inclosure,  always  sacred  in  Russia  as  a  living  pic- 
ture (obraz)  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  At  a  baker's  shop  the 
holy  bread  of  St.  Sergius  is  sold  to  visitors  and  pilgrims. 
It  is  much  sought  after,  partly  no  doubt  on  account  of  its 
real  excellence  as  bread. 

The  most  glorious  days  of  the  monastery  were 
those  when  the  rest  of  Russia  was  most  miserable,  the 

i  King. 


280  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

troublous   times  of  the  usurpers  who  succeeded  Boris 
Godunof,  for : — 

"  When  there  was  no  longer  either  Tsar  or  Patriarch,  when  Moscow 
itself,  as  one  might  almost  say,  had  ceased  to  exist,  being  weighed 
down  for  a  year  and  a  half  under  the  Polish  yoke,  the  Laura  became 
the  heart  of  all  Russia.  Its  superior  Dionysius  alone  took  the  place  of 
all  the  other  authorities,  and  as  the  visible  representative  of  the  protec- 
tion of  St.  Sergius  overshadowed  with  his  influence  the  whole  land  of 
Russia,  and  drew  her  together  around  the  ruins  of  the  capital." — 
Mouravicff. 

Since  that  time  the  Troitsa  has  ever  been  one  of  the 
most  sacred  places  in  Russia,  and  pilgrimages  to  the 
grave  of  St.  Sergius  have  never  ceased.  We  read  of  the 
Court  procession  of  Alexis  to  the  Troitsa  in  September, 
l675— 

"Immediately  after  the  carriage  of  the  Tsar  there  appeared  from 
another  gate  of  the  palace  the  carriage  of  the  Tsaritsa.  In  front  went 
the  chamberlains  with  two  hundred  runners,  after  which  twelve  large 
snow-white  horses,  covered  with  silk  housings,  drew  the  carriage  of  the 
Tsaritsa.  Then  followed  the  small  carriage  of  the  youngest  prince,1 
all  glittering  with  gold,  drawn  by  four  dwarf  ponies.  At  the  side  of  it 
rode  four  dwarfs  on  ponies,  and  another  one  behind." — Adolph  Lyseck 
{Secretary  to  the  Austrian  Embassy). 

A  tower  is  pointed  out  whence  the  boy  Peter  shot 
ducks  when  he  was  taking  refuge  here  with  his  mother 
from  the  streltsi.  When,  in  1689,  he  escaped  hither  again, 
flying  from  Sophia  and  the  streltsi,  he  arrived  at  6  A.M., 
so  weary  that  he  had  to  be  lifted  from  his  horse  and  put 
to  bed.  His  mother,  his  wife  Eudoxia,  and  his  sister 
Natalia,  arrived  two  hours  later. 

About  two  miles  from  the  Troitsa,  prettily  situated  near 
a  lake  in  the  woods,  is  the  religious  establishment  of 
Vefania  (Bethany),  a  very  singular  place,  which  became 
a  center  of  ecclesiastical  education  under  the  famous 
metropolitan  Plato,  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. Several  churches  are  distributed  over  the  pretty 
garden  inclosure,  brilliant  with  flowers  in  summer,  where 
long-robed,  long-haired  priests  are  always  pacing  between 
the  box  hedges,  and  the  hum  of  bees  mingles  with  the 
eternal  wail  of  the  church  music.  The  simple,  quiet, 
pretty  rooms  of  Plato  are  preserved  with  a  lovely  view  of 

i   Peter  the  Great. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  MOUNT  OF  OLIVES.       281 

flowers  and  verdure.  An  inscription  here  records  a  visit 
when  the  Emperor  Paul,  with  his  wife  and  children,  came 
to  dine  with  him.  Over  the  door  is  inscribed,  "  Let  him 
who  enters  here  forbear  to  carry  out  the  dirt  he  finds 
within."  Archbishop  Plato  used  to  converse  with  his 
visitors  in  Greek.  He  was  tutor  to  the  Grand  Dukes 
Alexander  and  Constantine,  and  composed  a  liberal  cate- 
chism for  their  use.  Many  anecdotes  are  recorded  show- 
ing his  independence  of  spirit ;  among  others,  of  his 
being  desired  to  draw  up  a  form  of  prayer  for  the  success 
of  the  Russian  arms,  and  refusing  to  do  so.  "  If  the 
Russians  are  really  penitent,  let  them  shut  up  all  their 
places  of  public  amusement  for  a  month,  then  I  will  cele- 
brate public  prayers." 

The  old  Church  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  ("  the  Mountain 
of  the  Ascension  of  Jesus  Christ  ")  contains  a  curious 
representation  of  the  hills  and  valleys  round  Jerusalem, 
with  their  olive  trees,  and  shepherds  with  their  flocks. 
On  the  altar  is  a  reliquary  adorned  with  enamel  pictures 
which  belonged  to  Louis  XVI.,  and  was  given  by  Louis 
XVIII.  to  the  metropolitan  Plato.  Beneath  the  rock  is  a 
subterranean  chapel  warmed  by  a  stove,  having  on  the 
right  a  cell  which  contains  two  coffins,  one  bitten  through 
by  peasants  suffering  from  toothache,  being  that  of  the 
founder,  the  other  being  that  of  Plato,  bearing  his  figure, 
standing  upon  the  spot  which  he  pointed  out  to  Reginald 
Heber  in  1805.  His  robes  are  preserved  in  cases. 

"  The  space  beneath  the  rocks  is  occupied  by  a  small  chapel,  fur- 
nished with  a  stove  for  winter  devotion  ;  and  on  the  right  is  a  little 
narrow  cell  containing  two  coffins,  one  of  which  is  empty,  and  des- 
tined for  the  present  archbishop  ;  the  other  contains  the  bones  of  the 
founder  of  the  monastery,  who  is  regarded  as  a  saint.  The  oak  cof- 
fin was  almost  bit  to  pieces  by  different  persons  afflicted  with  tooth- 
ache ;  for  which  a  rub  on  this  board  is  a  specific.  Plato  laughed  as 
he  told  us  this,  but  said,  '  As  they  do  it  de  ban  coeur,  I  would  not  un- 
deceive them.'  " — Reginald  Heber  s  "Journal." 

When  the  Emperor  Joseph  II.  returned  from  Russia, 
being  asked  what  he  had  found  most  admirable  there,  he 
replied,  "  The  metropolitan,  Plato." 

A  very  short  walk  takes  us  from  the  "  gay  retreat  "  1  of 
Bethany  to  the  hermitages  of  Gethsemane,  connected 

i  A.  P.  Stanley. 


282  STUDIES  IN  R USSIA. 

with  the  next  great  metropolitan,  Philaret,  of  austere  and 
severe  character.  He  worked  and  scolded  incessantly, 
so  that  it  used  to  be  said  that  his  daily  fare  was  "  one 
gudgeon  and  three  priests."  He  was  one  of  the  three 
persons  to  whom  the  great  State  secret  was  known,  which 
transferred  the  empire  from  Constantine  to.  Nicholas  on 
the  death  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  and  he  crowned 
both  Nicholas  and  Alexander  II. 

"  I  saw  him  on  the  festival  of  the  Sleep  of  the  Virgin,  in  the  cathedral 
of  the  Kremlin.  His  position  there  was  such  as  might  have  excited 
envy  in  the  minds  not  only  of  English  Ritualists,  but  of  the  highest 
Popes  and  Cardinals  of  the  West.  Never  have  I  seen  such  respect 
paid  to  any  ecclesiastic  ;  not  only  during  all  the  elaborations  of  the 
Russian  ceremonial — when  with  the  utmost  simplicity  he  bore  the 
clothing  and  unclothing,  and  even  the  passing  to  and  fro  of  the  broad 
comb  through  the  outstanding  flakes  of  his  hair  and  beard — or  when  he 
stood  on  the  carpet  where  was  embroidered  the  old  Roman  eagle  of  the 
Pagan  Empire — but  still  more  at  the  moment  of  his  departure.  He 
came  out  for  the  last  time  in  order  to  give  his  blessing,  and  then  de- 
scended the  chancel  steps  to  leave  the  church.  Had  he  been  made  of 
pure  gold,  and  had  every  touch  carried  away  a  fragment  of  him,  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  people  could  have  hardly  been  greater  to  kiss  his 
hand,  or  lay  a  finger  on  the  hem  of  his  garment.  The  crowd  franti- 
cally tossed  to  and  fro,  as  they  struggled  toward  him — men,  officers, 
soldiers.  Faintly  and  slowly  his  white  cowl J  was  seen  moving  on  and 
out  of  the  church,  till  he  plunged  into  another  vaster  crowd  outside  ; 
and  when  at  last  he  drove  off  in  his  coach,  drawn  by  six  black  horses, 
everyone  stood  bareheaded  as  he  passed.  The  sounding  of  all  the  bells 
of  all  the  churches  in  each  street  as  the  carriage  went  by,  made  it  easy 
to  track  his  course  long  after  he  was  out  of  sight." — A.  P.  Stanley, 
1  'Essays  on  Church  and  State. " 

In  the  Church  of  the  Gethsemane  is  another  rocky  plat- 
form, whence  there  is  a  descent  to  a  crypt,  which  is 
crowded  by  pilgrims,  especially  on  the  "Women's  Day," 
the  only  one  in  the  year  when  they  are  admitted.  Hence 
visitors  descend  with  lighted  tapers  into  some  small  cata- 
combs, in  which  one  cavern  has  a  fountain  and  another  a 
well.  Even  recently  anchorites  have  been  shut  up  here 
for  years  together,  never  seeing  the  light  of  day. 

At  a  convent  in  a  wood  at  Khaloff,  a  few  miles  from 
the  Troitsa,  the  traveler  may  venerate  the  relics  of  Sts. 
Cyrillus  and  Mary,  parents  of  St.  Sergius. 

i  A  white  klobouk,  or  cowl,  is  the  distinguishing  mark  of  all  prelates  who  bear 
the  title  of  metropolitan  in  Russia,  as  those  of  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  Kieff  and 
Kazan. 


THE  PLESTCHEIEF  LAKE.  283 

A  very  interesting  circular  tour  may  be  made  by  con- 
tinuing the  line  of  railway  to  Rostoff  and  Yaroslaf,  de- 
scending the  Volga  to  Kostroma  and  Nijni  Novogorod, 
and  returning  to  Moscow  by  Vladimir. 

A  little  to  the  left  of  the  line  to  Rostoff,  about  fifty 
miles  beyond  the  Troitsa,  near  Pereyaslavl,  is  the  Plest- 
cheief  Lake,  where  Peter  the  Great,  as  a  boy  of  thirteen, 
in  1688-89,  built  boats  with  the  help  of  Dutch  workmen. 
On  its  east  shore  is  the  site  of  a  church  dedicated  to  St. 
Mary  of  the  Ships,  and  the  decaying  remains  of  piles 
under  water,  which  formed  a  landing-stage.1  Of  Peter's 
whole  flotilla  only  one  small  boat  remains,  preserved  in  a 
special  building,  under  the  guardianship  of  the  local 
nobles.  His  first  launch  is,  however,  annually  commem- 
orated in  a  festival  on  the  sixth  Sunday  after  Easter, 
when  all  the  clergy  of  Pereyaslavl,  attended  by  a  throng 
of  people,  sail  in  a  barge  to  the  middle  of  the  lake,  to 
bless  the  waters.3  It  was  hence  that  Peter  wrote  : — 

"  To  my  most  beloved  and,  while  bodily  life  endures,  dearest  little 
mother,  Lady  Tsaritsa  and  Grand-Duchess  Natalia  Kinlovna, — Thy 
little  son,  now  here  at  work,  Petrushka,  I  ask  thy  blessing,  and  desire 
to  hear  about  thy  health,  and  we,  through  thy  prayers,  are  all  well, 
and  the  lake  is  all  got  clear  from  the  ice  to-day,  and  all  the  boats, 
except  the  big  ship,  are  finished,  only  we  are  waiting  for  ropes,  and  there- 
fore I  beg  your  kindness  that  these  ropes,  seven  hundred  fathoms  long, 
be  sent  from  the  Artillery  Department  without  delaying,  for  the  work 
is  waiting  for  them,  and  our  sojourn  here  is  being  prolonged.  For 
this  I  ask  your  blessing." — From  Pereyasldvl,  April  29,  (O.  S.)  1689. 

The  oft-repeated  story  of  Peter's  terror  of  water  and 
the  convulsions  it  caused,  is  entirely  without  found- 
ation.3 

The  historic  town  of  Rostoff\a&  a  grand  cathedral  dedi- 
cated to  The  Rest  of  the  Virgin,  dating  from  1213-31. 
The  railway  may  be  followed  from  hence  to  Yaroslaf 
(Hotel  Koktief)  which  retains  part  of  its  ancient  Kremlin 
and  possesses  several  very  fine  churches,  chiefly  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  There  is  a  famous  Legal  College 
here,  owing  its  foundation,  in  1805,  to  the  head  of  the 
house  of  Demidoff,  which  has  risen  during  the  last  cen- 
tury to  be  one  of  the  richest  and  most  important  in  Russia. 

i  See  Schuyler's  Life  of  Peter  the  Great,  \.  273. 
2  Ustridlof,  ii.  332.  3  Schuyler. 


2  84  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

"  The  Demidoffs  are  descendants  of  a  very  industrious  working 
miner,  who  had  a  small  iron  mine  on  the  confines  of  Siberia.  Peter 
the  Great,  on  visiting  the  spot,  was  much  pleased  with  the  activity  and 
reputation  for  honesty  of  Demidoff  ;  and  being  anxious  to  encourage 
the  working  of  mines,  and  also  to  set  an  example  of  emulation  for 
others,  made  him  and  his  heirs  forever  a  present  of  an  extensive  dis- 
trict immediately  surrounding  his  small  patrimonial  mine,  with  full 
liberty  to  work  it.  The  enormous  extent  of  ground  thus  obtained 
proved  a  source  of  inexhaustible  wealth  to  the  good  miner,  for  it 
was  found  to  cover  some  of  the  richest  veins  of  iron,  of  the  finest 
quality  in  Russia.  The  produce  soon  enriched  the  industrious  pro- 
prietor, and  his  son  having  continued  to  work  the  mine,  and  to  ex- 
plore more  ground,  was  enabled  to  employ  the  enormous  capital  thus 
acquired  in  purchasing  additional  estates,  and,  among  others,  one 
in  which  a  gold  mine  was  discovered  soon  after,  that  has  yielded, 
on  an  average,  loo.byg/.  annually  in  pure  gold. 

"  When  Peter  learned  how  valuable  a  subject  he  had  rewarded  in 
old  Demidoff,  he  wished  to  see  him  placed  in  the  class  of  nobles. 
After  some  hesitation  the  old  man  consented  to  receive  his  sovereign's 
further  bounty,  and,  being  asked  what  his  arms  should  be  he 
answered,  '  A  miner's  hammer,  that  my  posterity  may  never  forget 
the  source  of  their  wealth  and  prosperity.'  " — A.  B.  Granville. 

A  thousand  years  ago  the  whole  province  of  Yaroslaf 
was  inhabited  by  the  Finns,  who,  as  a  rule  have  been 
absorbed  by  the  pure  Slavonians,  but  a  few  Finnish  vil- 
lages remain. 

At  Yaroslaf  we  find  the  mighty  Volga — "  great  mother 
Volga  "  * — which  rises  near  the  plateau  of  Valdai  and  flows 
for  2,320  miles  through  the  length  of  Russia  into  the 
Caspian.  The  river  steamer  may  be  taken  to  Kostroma 
(Hotel  Kostroma)  a  place  of  great  interest,  with  a  grand 
cathedral  of  The  Rest  of  the  Virgin,  built  in  1239,  and 
little  altered,  being  still  of  extreme  interest  and  pictur- 
esqueness.  Outside  the  town  is  the  Monastery  of  Ipatief 
where  Michael  Romanoff  was  concealed  during  the 
Polish  invasion,  and  where  he  was  found  by  the  boyars 
when  they  came  to  offer  him  the  crown  of  Russia.  The 
chair  is  still  shown  in  which  they  saw  Michael,  a  boy  of 
fifteen,  seated  on  their  arrival.  It  is  said  that  when  the 
Poles  learned  of  his  election,  they  sent  armed  men  to 
seize  Michael  at  Kostroma.  A  peasant,  Ivan  Soussanine, 
being  employed  as  their  guide,  purposely  misled  them 
into  the  depths  of  the  forest,  where  he  died  under  their 

i  One  of  the  famous  songs  of  the  Bourlaki  begins  "  In  descending  the  Volga,  our 
mother." 


KOSTROMA.  285 

blows  that  he  might  save  his  prince  from  their  hands. 
This  is  the  subject  of  the  famous  opera  of  Glinka — "  Life 
for  the  Tsar."  The  unanimity  of  all  classes  in  the  elec- 
tion of  Michael  is  very  striking. 

"  It  was  decided  that  all  Christian  men  should  fast  for  three  days, 
and  pray  to  God  that  He  would  graciously  bestow  upon  them  a  just 
and  religious  sovereign,  and  that  their  choice  might  proceed  from  the 
King  of  kings,  and  not  from  men.  Consequently  a  general  fast  was 
observed,  so  strictly  that  neither  men,  women,  nor  children  ate  or  drank 
any  thing  for  three  days,  and  even  infants  were  not  allowed  to  take 
the  breast.  After  this  they  proceeded  to  the  election,  it  having  previ- 
ously been  decided  that  every  class  of  subjects  should  give  in  writing 
the  name  of  him  whom  they  preferred. 

"  The  assembly  were  astonished  on  examining  all  the  papers,  for 
they  all  named  one  and  the  same  person,  namely,  Michael,  the  nephew 
of  the  Tsar  Feodor  Ivanovitch,  and  the  son  of  him  who  was  once  the 
great  boyar  Feodor  Niketivitch  Romanoff,  but  who  was  then  named 
Philaret,  metropolitan  of  Rostoff,  and  was  at  that  time  suffering  on 
behalf  of  his  country  in  Warsaw." — Archbishop  Plato. 

The  river  steamer  affords  the  pleasantest  journey  from 
Kostroma  to  Nijni-Novogorod  (Hotel  Lopashef),  the 
Lower  Novogorod,  which  was  a  colony  from  Novogorod 
the  Great.  This  place  would  not  be  much  worth  visiting 
except  at  the  time  of  its  famous  fair,  unless  it  were  for 
its  magnificent  position  on  the  great  river,  which  is  here 
joined  by  the  Oka.  There  is  a  very  fine  view  from  the 
cathedral  which  rises  above  the  small  town  of  common 
life  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Volga.  On  the  plain  on 
the  northern  bank,  approached  by  roads  deep  in  dust  or 
heavy  mud,  is  held  the  Yarmaka  (Jahrmarkt),  or  fair, 
with  its  streets  and  alleys  of  Mucovite,  Armenian,  Turk- 
ish, Chinese,  and  Tartar  sheds.  The  Chinese  houses 
have  an  especially  odd  effect,  with  their  projecting  roofs 
and  yellow  bells  at  the  corners  ;  but  the  picturesque 
effects  and  costumes  of  the  fair,  so  often  described,  have 
been  greatly  exaggerated.  Of  late  years,  since  the  intro- 
duction of  railways,  the  importance  of  the  fair  has  been 
dwindling.  "  Why  should  not  the  goods  be  brought  to 
Moscow  ?  "  is  the  constant  cry  ;  and  a  traveler's  visit  to 
Nijni-Novogorod  will  soon  be  a  tale  of  the  past.  Those 
who  go  there  now  will  be  amused  by  a  dinner  at  the  great 
restaurant,  where  sterlets  of  the  Volga  are  the  fashion- 
able delicacy.  In  this  town  of  many  nations,  Mahom- 


2  86  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

medan  mosque  and  Armenian  church  stand  side  by  side 
with  the  Orthodox  cathedral. 

It  will  be  remembered  that,  during  the  Polish  occupa- 
tion— 

"  It  was  in  Nijni  that  the  spark  of  pure  self-devotion  broke  out 
in  the  heart  of  the  citizen  Minin.  who  found  his  example  responded  to 
by  the  whole  nation.  There  also  the  military  force  which  was  to  free 
the  enemy  was  concentrated  under  the  command  of  Pojarskoi." — 
Mouravieff. 

Steamers  leave  Nijni  at  n  A.M.,  on  Mondays,  Wednes- 
days, and  Fridays,  for  Kazan,  returning  at  8  A.M.  on 
Sundays,  Mondays,  Wednesdays,  and  Thursdays.  This 
voyage,  which  may  be  performed  with  tolerable  comfort, 
will  show  an  ordinary  traveler  far  more  than  he  can 
otherwise  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing,  of  the  interior 
of  Russia.  The  scenery  is  very  monotonous  and  never 
more  than  slightly  pretty.  The  right  bank  is  sometimes 
steep,  but  on  the  left  it  is  always  flat  and  marshy.  Be- 
tween Nijni  and  Kazan  the  steamer  passes  through  sev- 
eral of  the  Tcheremiss  villages  of  Finnish  origin,  whose 
industrious  inhabitants  are  almost  pagan  in  their  faith 
and  customs.  They  believe,  however,  in  another  life 
after  death,  in  which  they  are  punished  or  rewarded,  bad 
men  becoming  evil  spirits,  who  return  to  torment  the  liv- 
ing. They  believe  that  there  is  constant  warfare  between 
the  good  and  bad  gods,  and  that  the  chief  of  the  latter  is 
Shaitan,  whose  Tcheremiss  name  is  YO,  who  dwells  in  the 
west,  and  whose  time  of  power  is  the  dinner-hour.  Ex- 
cept weeding  the  ground,  the  Tcheremiss  do  no  work  for 
a  period  of  three  weeks  during  the  corn  blossom,  consid- 
ering it  sinful.  At  the  end  of  that  time  there  is  a  great 
holiday,  and  all  the  people  proceed  to  a  spot  in  the  woods, 
where  cows,  sheep,  and  fowls  are  sacrificed.  These  must 
first  be  purchased,  but  no  bargaining  is  allowed  ;  that 
would  be  a  sin. 

"  This  is  the  highest  festival  of  the  Tcheremiss,  dedicated  to  Yum, 
Yuma,  or  the  highest  God,  and  therefore  called  Yumon  Bairan,  and 
also  Shurem.  After  the  animals  have  been  slaughtered,  and  various 
ceremonies  performed  by  the  priests,  the  people  all  fall  upon  their 
knees,  touch  the  ground  several  times  with  their  foreheads,  and  repeat 
aloud  a  prayer  containing  eighteen  requests,  as  follows  : — 


CHEBOKSARL  287 

*'  i.  To  him  who  has  sacrificed  to  God,  may  God  grant  health  and 
happiness. 

"  2.  To  the  children  who  have  been  born  into  the  world  may  He 
give  abundance  of  money,  bread,  bees,  and  cattle. 

"  3.  May  He  cause  the  bees  to  swarm  at  the  new  year,  and  provide 
honey  in  abundance  ! 

"  4.  May  He  bless  our  pursuit  of  birds  and  game  ! 

"  5.   May  He  give  us  abundance  of  gold  and  silver  ! 

"  6.  Let  us,  O  Lord,  receive  threefold  the  value  for  our  goods  ! 

"  7.  Grant  us  possession  of  all  the  treasures  which  are  in  the  earth, 
and  in  the  whole  world  ! 

"  8.  Enable  us  to  pay  the  imperial  taxes  ! 

"9.  When  spring  comes,  let  the  three  kinds  of  cattle  out  in  the 
three  ways,  and  protect  them  from  deep  mud,  from  bears,  wolves,  and 
thieves  ! 

"  10.   Let  our  barren  cows  bear  calves  ! 

"  II.   Let  the  lean  cows  grow  fat  by  bearing  calves  ! 

"  12.  Let  us  sell  the  barren  cows  with  one  hand,  and  with  the 
other  take  hold  of  the  money  ! 

"  13.   Send  us.  O  God,  a  true-hearted  friend  ! 

"  14.  When  we  travel  to  a  distance,  protect  us  from  wicked  men, 
bad  diseases,  stupid  people,  unjust  judges,  and  slanderous  tongues  ! 

"15.  As  the  hop  is  elastic  and  full,  so  bless  us  with  happiness  and 
understanding  ! 

"  1 6.  As  the  light  becomes  clear,  so  let  us  live,  and  grant  us 
health  ! 

"  17.  As  the  wax  settles  down  to  a  uniform  level,  so  grant  us  the 
happiness  to  live  constantly  ! 

"  18.  Grant  that  he  who  asks  may  receive  ! 

"  After  this  prayer  the  priest  puts  the  head,  heart,  and  liver  of  his 
beast  into  a  bowl,  and  offers  it  as  a  sacrifice  to  his  divinity  with  a 
prayer  before  the  fire  ;  then  they  eat,  and  again  begin  to  pray  ;  then  they 
go  on  for  three  days  and  nights  without  sleep.  Then  they  throw  what 
they  have  not  consumed,  together  with  the  bones  and  entrails  of  the 
beast,  into  the  fire,  which  is  kept  continually  burning," — Hax- 
thausen,  ' '  The  Russian  Empire. " 

Cheboksari  is  the  Tcheremiss  capital,  a  dirty,  but 
rather  a  picturesque  place.  The  most  important  rebel- 
lion ever  made  by  the  usually  patient  serfs  took  place  in 
the  towns  and  villages  of  the  Volga  in  the  time  of  Nich- 
olas I.  In  many  cases  the  peasants  seized  their  masters 
and  massacred  them  with  their  families.  Some  they 
roasted  alive  on  spits,  others  they  boiled  in  a  caldron, 
others  they  disemboweled  ! 

"  Le  supplice  de  Thelenef  commenca.  Quel  supplice,  bon  Dieu  ! 
Pour  rendre  la  mort  plus  affreuse  a  ce  malheureux,  on  pla9a  d'abord 
devant  ses  yeux  sa  fille,  assise  et  liee  a  peu  de  distance  de  lui  sur  une 
grossiere  estrade  que  Ton  venait  de  construire  &  la  hate  .  .  .  puis  .  .  . 


288  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

puis  on  lui  coupa  a  plusieurs  reprises,  les  pieds  et  les  mains,  1'un  apres 
1'autre,  et  quand  ce  tronc  mutile  fut  presque  e'puise  de  sang,  on  le 
laissa  mourirensouffletant  la  tete  de  ses  propres  mains,  et  en  etouffant 
les  hurlements  de  sa  bouche  avec  un  de  ses  pieds." — M.  de  Custine. 

Kazan  (Commonen's  Hotel),  founded  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  was  the  capital  of  the  Tartar  kingdom  of  Kazan, 
whose  inhabitants  were  the  most  formidable  enemies  of 
the  Russian  Grand  Princes.  It  was  Ivan  the  Terrible 
who  annexed  the  three  Khanates  of  the  Lower  Volga — 
Kazan,  Kiptchak,  and  Astrakhan.  His  capture  of  Kazan 
in  1552  is  to  Russian  what  the  conquest  of  Granada  is  to 
Spanish  history.  The  town  has  a  kremlin  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  which  contains  the  Cathedral  of  the  Annunciation, 
of  1562.  The  Bogoroditsky  Convent,  near  this,  contains  a 
much  venerated  miraculous  icon  of  "  Our  Lady  of 
Kazan."  Wallace1  records  as  an  instance  of  the  strange 
blending  of  the  modern  with  the  ancient  religion,  that  on 
one  occasion,  in  consequence  of  serious  illness,  a  Tchere- 
miss  peasant  sacrificed  a  young  foal  to  our  Lady  of 
Kazan.  The  town  is  three  miles  distant  from  the  river, 
but  its  towers  and  minarets  are  visible  from  the  water. 

The  Tartar  population  of  Kazan,  forcibly  converted, 
still  retains  many  of  its  ancient  customs,  and  even  much 
of  its  old  religion. 

"  Soon  after  the  conquest  of  the  Khanate  of  Kazan  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  Tsars  of  Muscovy  attempted  to  convert  the  new  subjects 
from  Mahommedanism  to  Christianity.  The  means  employed  were 
partly  spiritual  and  partly  administrative  ;  but  the  police  officers  seem 
to  have  played  a  more  important  part  than  the  clergy.  In  this  way  a 
certain  number  of  Tartars  were  baptized  ;  but  the  authorities  were 
obliged  to  admit  that  the  new  converts  '  shamelessly  retain  many 
horrid  Tartar  customs,  and  neither  know  nor  hold  the  Christian 
faith.'  When  spiritual  exhortations  failed,  the  Government  ordered 
its  officials  to  '  terrify,  imprison,  put  in  irons,  and  thereby  unteach  and 
frighten  from  the  Tartar  faith  those  who,  though  baptized,  do  not 
obey  the  admonitions  of  the  metropolitan.'  These  energetic  measures 
proved  as  ineffectual  as  the  spiritual  exhortations  ;  and  Catherine  II. 
adopted  a  new  method,  highly  characteristic  of  her  system  of  admin- 
istration. The  new  converts — who,  be  it  remembered,  were  unable 
to  read  or  write — were  ordered  by  Imperial  ukase  to  sign  a  written 
promise  to  the  effect  that  '  they  would  completely  forsake  their  infidel 
errors,  and,  avoiding  all  intercourse  with  unbelievers,  would  hold 
firmly  and  unwaveringly  the  Christian  faith  and  its  dogmas '  of  which 

i  Russia^  \.  237. 


SARAL  289 

latter,  we  may  add,  they  had  not  the  slightest  knowledge.  The  child- 
like faith  in  the  magical  efficacy  of  stamped  paper  here  displayed  was 
not  justified.  The  so-called  '  baptized  Tartars  '  are  at  the  present 
time  as  far  from  being  Christian  as  they  were  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
They  can  not  openly  profess  Mahommedanism,  because  men  who  have 
been  once  formally  admitted  into  the  National  Church  can  not  leave  it 
without  exposing  themselves  to  the  severe  pains  and  penalties  of  the 
criminal  code,  but  they  strongly  object  to  be  Christianized." — Wal- 
laces Russia. 

From  time  to  time  Kazan  and  the  whole  district  of  the 
Volga  have  been  overrun  with  swarms  of  beetles  (tara- 
kani)  from  China.  In  1817,  a  more  terrible  enemy 
appeared  in  enormous  swarms  of  rats — yellow,  with  a 
black  stripe  down  the  back — which  destroyed  all  the 
native  rats  and  mice.1 

Some  few  travelers  will  continue  the  voyage  of  the 
Volga  below  Kazan  to  Simbrisk ;  Samara,  a  great 
modern  town,  with  a  huge  modern  church  :  and  Saratof, 
a  handsome  city  in  rather  a  pretty  situation.  (Hence  a 
railway  leads  to  Moscow  through  Tambof,  one  of  the 
towns  which  has  suffered  most  from  Tartar  incursions.) 

The  melancholy  songs  of  the  Bourlaki  vary,  but  do  not 
enliven,  the  descent  of  the  Volga.  When  the  Bourlak 
sings— 

"  He  sits,  his  head  resting  on  his  hands  ;  he  has  a  pensive  aspect  ; 
his  eyes  express  animation,  his  features  suffering.  When  you  listen 
to  him  you  always  wish  to  catch  what  he  is  saying  ;  but  you  can  not 
distinguish  the  words,  it  is  only  a  plaintive  wail  which  reaches  you." — 
RescMtnikof. 

No  trace  exists  now  of  the  great  Tartar  city  of  Saraf, 
which  once  occupied  the  site  of  Saratof,  being  founded 
by  the  grandson  of  that  Genghis  Khan  who  set  out  from 
the  north  of  China  with  the  idea  of  conquering  the  whole 
world,  and  who  did  conquer  the  country  which  extends 
from  the  Carpathian  to  the  eastern  shores  of  Asia,  and 
from  the  Arctic  Ocean  to  the  Himalayas,  founded  the 
great  Mongol  Empire,  which  only  lasted  fifty  years.  In 
the  fifteenth  century  Sarai'  was  flourishing  and  populous. 
Here  lived  the  Khans  who  kept  Russia  in  subjection  for 
two  hundred  years.  Whilst  they  exacted  tribute,  how- 
ever, they  never  attempted  to  Tartarize  their  Russian 

i  See  Haxthausen. 


290  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

subjects,  who  were  then  divided  into  a  number  of  inde- 
pendent principalities,  all  governed  by  descendants  of 
Ruric.  Indeed,  they  were  so  tolerant  that  in  1261,  a 
Khan  founded  a  bishopric  in  his  capital,  and,  several  of 
his  family  embracing  Christianity,  one  of  them  founded 
a  monastery,  and  even  became  a  saint  of  the  Russian 
Church.  Meantime  the  Russian  princes,  collecting  as 
well  as  paying  the  tributes,  became,  as  it  were,  the  lieu- 
tenants of  the  Khans,  and  Princes  of  Moscow,  by  forcing 
the  smaller  princes  to  pay  their  tribute  through  them, 
increased  their  own  influence  with  the  Tartar  tyrants. 
But  at  length  Russia,  which  had  no  part  in  the  crusades 
of  medieval  Europe,  carried  on  its  own  crusade  against 
the  Tartars,  and  in  the  end  with  glorious  success  ;  and 
as  the  Tartar  Golden  Horde  fell  to  pieces,  Moscow,  which 
had  long  taken  the  first  rank  in  Russia,  put  itself  at  the 
head  of  the  movement  which  eventually  insured  the  free- 
dom of  the  whole  country. 

The  railway  from  Nijni  Novogorod  to  Moscow  passes 
the  famous  town  of  Vladimir.  This  city  was  founded  in 
the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  by  Andrew  Bobolioubski 
of  Soudalia,  who  affirmed  that  he  was  obliged  to  make 
his  capital  here,  rather  than  in  the  ancient  cities  of  Sous- 
dal  or  Rostoff,  in  answer  to  his  famous  icon,  brought 
from  Constantinople  (the  same  which  now  hangs  in  the 
Assumption  Cathedral  at  Moscow),  which  refused  to 
reside  anywhere  but  in  Vladimir.  Andrew  made  of 
Vladimir  a  new  Kieff,  as  Kieff  itself  had  been  a  new  Con- 
stantinople. Here,  as  at  Kieff,  was  erected  (1158)  a 
Golden  Gate  which  still  exists,  and,  as  at  Kieff,  a  church, 
called  the  Church  of  the  Tithes,  was  dedicated  to  the 
Virgin,  and  numbers  of  monasteries  were  built.  Andrew 
Bobolioubski,  at  Vladimir,  was  the  first  despotic  ruler  in 
Russia.  He  broke  through  the  traditional  bond  which 
had  united  the  ancient  princes  to  their  droujina  or  band 
of  comrades,  making  his  boyars  subjects  instead  of  com- 
panions.1 He  tried  to  deprive  Kieff  of  its  spiritual  as 
well  as  its  temporal  supremacy,  by  persuading  the  Metro- 
politan to  move  to  Vladimir  ;  but  this  was  refused  at  the 
time,  and  was  left  for  the  Grand  Princes  of  Moscow  to 
carry  out. 

i  Rambaud. 


VLADIMIR.  291 

For  a  short  time,  between  the  supremacy  of  Kieff  and 
that  of  Moscow,  Vladimir  was  the  capital  of  Russia  ;  and, 
long  after  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  government  to  Mos- 
cow (1328),  its  princes  came  hither  for  their  coronations. 
The  splendid  coronation  cathedral  of  Moscow  is  only,  as 
far  as  could  be,  a  copy  of  the  ancient  Cathedral  of  the 
Assumption  (Uspenski  Sobor)  of  Vladimir.  The  glorious 
church  which  still  exists  dates  only  from  the  thirteenth 
century,  but  contains  many  precious  monuments  and 
shrines  saved  from  the  destruction  of  an  earlier  cathedral. 
These  include  the  shrine  of  the  Grand  Prince  Andrew, 
murdered  in  1174 — a  "  second  Solomon  "  who  had  given  a 
tenth  of  his  revenues  to  the  church,  and  enriched  it  with 
golden  gates,  silver  balustrade,  and  costly  icons,  especially 
with  the  famous  icon  of  "  the  Virgin  of  Sousdal,"  bearing 
which,  in  1164,  he  had  gained  a  celebrated  victory  over 
the  Bulgarians.  Among  the  tombs  are  those  of  Vassa, 
the  second  wife,  and  Eudoxia,  the  daughter,  of  St.  Alex- 
ander Nevskoi  ;  and  the  hero  saint  himself  reposed  here 
till  his  remains  were  moved  to  St.  Petersburg  by  Peter 
the  Great.  The  earlier  church  on  this  site,  founded  by 
Prince  Andrew  Bobolioubski,  was  twice  destroyed  by  fire, 
the  second  time  during  the  terrible  Tartar  invasion  of 
1238,  under  Baty  Khan,  when  the  Prince  of  Vladimir, 
George  II.,  had  gone  to  seek  succor  in  the  north,  leaving 
his  two  sons  to  defend  the  town. 

' '  The  princes  and  boyars  saw  that  their  ruin  was  inevitable.  There 
was  still  time  to  beg  for  peace  ;  but  being  only  too  certain  that  they 
would  have  to  become  slaves  and  tributaries  to  Baty,  and  valuing 
honor  more  than  life,  they  resolved  to  die  the  death  of  heroes.  It  was 
a  most  touching  spectacle  when  Vsevolod,  his  wife,  the  nobles,  and  a 
great  number  of  illustrious  citizens  met  in  the  Church  of  Our  Lady, 
where  they  implored  the  Bishop  Metrophanes  to  give  them  the  monastic 
tonsure.  This  solemnity  was  carried  out  in  profound  silence.  The 
Russians  took  leave  at  once  of  the  world  and  of  life  ;  but,  on  the 
point  of  quitting  it,  they  besought  heaven  to  preserve  the  existence,  the 
glory,  and  the  cherished  name  of  Russia.  On  the  7th  of  February, 
the  Sunday  of  the  Carnival,  after  matins,  the  assault  begins  ;  the  Tar- 
tars seize  the  new  town,  while  Vsevolod  and  Rostislaf,  with  their 
guard,  retire  into  the  old  town.  Meanwhile  Agatha,  wife  of  the  Grand 
Prince  George  (and  mother  of  Vsevolod),  her  daughter,  her  brothers, 
her  daughters-in-law,  her  granddaughter,  and  a  crowd  of  boyars  and 
citizens,  shut  themselves  up  in  the  cathedral.  The  Mongols  set  fire 
to  it,  while  the  bishop  cries  aloud,  '  Lord,  extend  Thine  invisible  arms, 
and  receive  Thy  servants  in  peace  ! '  then  gives  his  blessing  to  all  who 


292  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

are  present,  giving  themselves  up  to  death.  Some  are  suffocated  by 
the  torrents  of  smoke,  others  are  devoured  by  the  flames  or  fall  by  the 
swords  of  the  enemy.  For  the  Tartars  succeed  in  forcing  the  doors 
of  the  church,  into  which  they  rush,  led  on  by  their  longing  to  seize 
the  rich  treasures  which  they  know  to  be  concealed  there.  The  silver, 
gold,  precious  stones,  all  the  ornaments  of  the  icons,  and  the  books, 
fall  a  prey  to  them,  as  well  as  the  robes  of  the  ancient  princes  of 
Vladimir  preserved  in  this  church.  The  cruel  warriors  of  Baty,  sur- 
feited with  carnage,  made  very  few  prisoners,  and  even  this  small 
number,  brought  naked  into  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  perished  there  of 
cold.  The  princes  Vsevolod  and  Rostislaf,  having  lost  all  hope  of 
repulsing  the  enemy,  attempted  to  force  a  way  through  their  numerous 
battalions,  and  both  perished." — Karamsin,  iii. 

Within  the  Kremlin  of  Vladimir  is  the  Cathedral  of  St. 
Demetrius,  which  dates  from  1194,  and  is  very  curious  and 
interesting. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    NEW    JERUSALEM. 

ALONG  and  interesting  excursion  from  Moscow 
should  be  made  to  the  great  Monastery  of  the  New 
Jerusalem.  The  St.  Petersburg  railway  must  be  retraced 
for  about  an  hour  as  far  as  the  station  of  Kriukova,  whence 
it  is  about  fourteen  miles  to  the  monastery.  Quantities 
of  the  native  carriage  called  tarantass1  are  waiting  at  the 
station,  and  must  be  bargained  for.  The  better  sort  of 
tarantass  is  a  kind  of  springless  phaeton,  with  three  horses 
abundantly  hung  with  bells  to  frighten  wolves,  the  largest 
suspended  from  the  center  of  the  high-raised  collar.  The 
commoner  kind  of  tarantass  is  little  more  than  a  hooded 
wooden  box  with  hay  spread  over  the  bottom.  You  make 
your  bargain,  ten  times  the  very  small  sum  taken  at  last 
being  asked  at  the  beginning,  your  graceful  yemstchik,  or 
driver,  springs  upon  the  box,  crosses  himself,  as  he  always 
does  before  every  journey,  and  you  are  off,  while  he  utters 
such  cries  to  his  horses  as,  "  Little  father,  have  a  care  of 
your  character,  and  you  shall  have  some  fresh  grass  when 
we  get  to  the  New  Jerusalem  ;  "  "  Dear  little  mother,  do 
not  let  me  stick  in  the  mud,  and  your  supper  shall  be 
perfectly  delicious  ;  "  "  He  !  he  !  now  shake  yourselves, 
you  little  popes  ; "  "  Now  all  three  together,  you  little 
barbarians  ; "  and  so  throughout  all  the  way  he  chatters 
to  the  animals,  and  they  always  understand  him  perfectly, 
and  he  often,  as  in  our  case,  has  no  whip.  If  a  horse  is 
incorrigible,  his  driver  calls  him  a  Jew,  the  lowest  term  of 
opprobrium.  The  use  of  diminutives  is  universal.  "  Lit- 

i  There  is  a  well-known  romance  called  The  Tarantass^  by  Count  Sollohoub, 
consisting  of  conversations  in  a  carriage  of  this  kind  between  the  old  Vassili,  a  coun- 
tryman of  the  old  Russian  school,  who  had  grown  up  "as  the  cabbages  and  peas 
grow,"  and  Ivan,  a  smart  young  man  with  a  Parisian  education — a  dialogue  greatly 
to  the  advantage  of  the  former. 


294  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA. 

tie  father,  give  me  a  little  light  for  my  little  pipe,"  your 
charioteer  will  say  as  he  turns  round  to  you. 

Gogol  describes  the  driver  of  a  Russian  tarantass. 

"  Tchitchikoff,  lost  in  his  own  thoughts,  did  not  perceive  that  his 
driver  was  addressing  very  judicious  observations  to  the  extra  horse 
harnessed  on  the  right.  This  gelding  was  very  crafty  ;  it  made  a  pre- 
tense of  drawing,  but  in  reality  it  was  the  bay  horse,  and  the  sorrel 
called  the  '  Assessor '  (because  it  had  been  bought  from  an  assessor), 
which  worked  so  conscientiously  that  self-satisfaction  might  be  seen 
in  their  eyes.  '  Be  as  cunning  as  you  choose,  I  can  be  more  crafty 
than  you,'  said  Seliphane,  leaning  forward  to  whip  the  idler.  '  Learn 
what  you  have  to  do,  you  German  fool !  The  bay  is  a  respectable 
horse  ;  he  fulfills  his  duty  ;  I  shall  be  delighted  to  give  him  an  extra 
measure  of  corn;  to  the  'Assessor'  likewise!  .  .  .  Well  then,  well 
then  !  why  are  you  shaking  your  ears,  you  idiot?  Attend  when  you 
are  spoken  to  !  I  am  not  teaching  you  anything  bad,  you  ill-con- 
ditioned one  !  Eh,  barbarian  !  where  are  you  going  ? '  And  here 
another  cut  of  the  whip." 

Soon  we  pass  through  a  large  village,  a  typical  wooden 
Russian  village,  where  the  edge  of  the  gables  is  fringed 
with  lace,  like  the  napkins  inside,  and  where  there  are 
richly  wrought  open  shutters  like  those  in  the  streets  of 
Cairo.  Wonderful  carpenters  are  these  Russian  peasants  ! 

1 '  We  saw  a  young  man  cut  out  with  his  ax,  merely  measuring  it  by 
his  eye,  a  hexagonal  hole  six  inches  in  width  and  depth.  When  he 
had  finished,  we  examined  it,  and  found  all  the  sides  exactly  equal, 
and  the  angles  correct  ;  it  was  a  perfectly  regular  mathematical 
figure,  which  none  of  us  could  have  drawn  without  rule  and  compass. " 
— Haxtha  us  en . 

All  the  buildings  become  gray,  almost  black,  from  the 
weather,  and  this,  with  the  absence  of  foliage  in  the  Rus- 
sian villages,  produces  a  melancholy  expression.  The 
single  fir-tree  which  is  left  here  in  the  village  startles  us, 
and  we  feel  inclined  to  stay  and  sketch  it,  so  unusual  is 
its  aspect,  for  in  scarcely  any  Russian  village  is  there  a 
tree  of  sufficient  size  to  give  shade.  Russians  have  made 
firewood,  when  it  was  near  their  hand,  even  of  their  fruit- 
trees  planted  by  the  Turks,  and  of  the  mulberry  trees 
planted  by  the  Mongols  on  the  Volga.1  Close  to 
many  of  the  houses  here  are  high  poles,  at  the  top  of 
which  a  basket  is  slung  for  starlings  (skavortzi)  to  build 
their  nests  in,  owing  to  an  old  popular  belief.  In  these 

i  Haxthausen. 


VILLAGE  CHARACTERISTICS.  295 

villages,  the  better  class  of  peasants  will  often  let  their 
best  room  to  a  clerk  employed  in  the  place,  receiving  no 
money  as  rent,  but  the  tenant  being  obliged  to  provide 
some  necessary,  such  as  firewood,  for  the  whole  house 
throughout  the  year  :  all  Russians  are  fond  of  paying 
and  receiving  in  kind.  A  fourth  of  every  principal  living 
room  is  usually  taken  up  by  the  stove,  on  the  top  of 
which  many  of  the  peasants  sleep,  wrapped  up  in  their 
sheepskins,  equally  impervious  to  extremes  of  heat  and 
cold.  In  winter  all  the  men  wear  sheepskin  coats,  with 
the  wool  turned  inwards.  Before  October  is  far  advanced 
all  is  buried  in  snow. 

The  houses  of  the  priests  or  deacons  in  the  country 
villages  are  little  superior  to  those  around  them. 
Here  is  Madame  Romanoff's  description  of  one  of 
them  : — 

"  The  deacon  lived  in  a  wooden  house  of  his  own,  with  a  palisaded 
garden  in  front,  if  that  may  be  called  a  garden  which  was  but  a  narrow 
slip  of  ground,  so  thickly  planted  with  lilacs  and  raspberry  and  black- 
currant bushes,  that  at  the  time  the  fruit  was  ripe  there  was  scarcely 
any  possibility  of  getting  at  it.  The  dwelling  consisted  of  a  large 
lofty  kitchen,  a  bedroom,  and  a  parlor — all  on  the  ground-floor.  The 
walls  were  not  lath  and  plastered,  there  were  no  carpets  on  the  floors 
nor  curtains  at  the  windows.  The  furniture  consisted  of  a  birchwood 
sofa  and  a  dozen  chairs,  covered  with  a  large-patterned  cotton  print,  a 
table  before  the  sofa,  and  two  smaller  ones  beneath  the  looking- 
glasses  in  the  piers.  Besides  this  ordinary  furniture  there  was  a 
psaltery,  on  which  the  deacon  used  to  perform  various  sacred  melodies 
on  holiday  evenings.  The  corner  formed  by  the  two-windowed  walls 
was  hung  with  pictures  of  the  Saviour,  His  Mother,  the  patron-saints 
of  trfe  master  and  mistress  of  the  house,  and  of  the  master's  deceased 
parents  ;  some  with  silver  or  metallic  settings,  others  in  the  rough 
and  extra  pre-Raphaelistic  style  called  '  Souzdalsky,'  from  the  town 
where  they  are  painted  by  thousands.  The  other  walls  were  covered 
with  portraits  of  the  imperial  family,  and  a  few  sentimental  engravings 
from  English  annuals,  with  English  titles  that  nobody  in  the  village 
could  read,  and  no  one  knew  where  they  were  originally  picked  up. 
They  were  the  parting  gift  of  one  of  the  many  stanovoys  that  had 
ruled  in  the  village. 

"  The  bedroom  contained  only  one  bed  properly  so  called;  the 
bedding  of  the  children  (who  slept  on  large  pieces  of  thick  felt  spread 
at  night  on  the  parlor  floor,  with  pillows  in  cotton-print  cases,  and 
patchwork-quilted  counterpanes)  was  stowed  away  under  the  bedstead 
during  the  day.  The  kitchen  was  like  all  Russian  peasant  houses. 
The  whole  house  was  scrupulously  clean  and  neat ;  a  faint  smell, 
reminding  one  of  incense,  wax,  and  church  oil,  pervaded  the  place, 
and  proceeded  from  the  clothing,  long  hair,  and  person  in  general  of 


296  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

the  deacon,  a  quiet,  sober,   thrifty  man." — Riles  and  Customs  of  the 
Greco-Russian  Church. 

The  person  of  next  importance  in  the  village  is  the 
Feldsher,  or  doctor — an  old  soldier  who  dresses  wounds 
and  gives  physic  ;  many,  however,  prefer  consulting  a 
Znakharka — an  old  woman  who  is  half  doctor  and  half 
witch. 

But  we  have  left  the  village  far  behind,  and  are  jolting 
over  the  open  plain,  and  soon,  across  the  rough  track,  in 
the  aerial  horizon,  we  shall  see  the  light  gleaming  upon 
purple  towers  and  golden  domes,  which — at  least  far 
away — will  recall  another  New  Jerusalem,  more  uni- 
versally looked  for  ;  therefore,  while  we  have  still  time, 
let  us  consider  the  strange  story  which  has  brought  us 
here. 

"  In  naming  Nikon  we  feel  at  once  the  immense  disadvantage  of 
Eastern  as  compared  with  Western  history.  How  few  of  us  have  even 
heard  of  him  ;  how  impenetrable  even  to  those  who  have  heard  of  him 
is  the  darkness  of  the  original  language  in  which  his  biography  is 
wrapped  up  !  Yet  he  is  unquestionably  the  greatest  character  in  the 
annals  of  the  Russian  hierarchy  ;  and  even  in  the  annals  of  the  East- 
ern hierarchy  generally,  there  are  but  few  who  can  be  named  before 
him  as  ecclesiastical  statesmen.  Photius  in  the  ninth  century,  and 
Chrysostom  in  the  fourth,  in  some  respects  remind  us  of  the  career  of 
Nikon.  Indeed  the  similarity  may  be  fairly  taken  as  a  proof  of  the 
identity  of  spirit  which  breathed,  at  the  interval  of  six  centuries, 
through  the  two  main  branches  of  the  Eastern  Church.  He  was  a 
Russian  Chrysostom.  He  was  also,  in  coarse  and  homely  proportions, 
a  Russian  Luther  and  a  Russian  Wolsey.  .  .  .  In  the  series  of  por- 
traits professing  to  represent  the  hierarchy  of  ancient  Russia,  his  is  the 
first  that  imprints  itself  on  our  minds  with  the  stamp  of  individual 
originality.  In  the  various  monasteries  over  which  he  presided,  his 
grave  countenance  looks  down  upon  us  with  bloodshot  eyes,  red  com- 
plexion, and  brows  deeply  knit.  The  vast  length  of  his  pontifical 
robes,  preserved  as  relics  of  his  magnificence,  reveals  to  us  the  com- 
manding stature,  no  less  than  seven  feet,  which  he  shares  with  so 
many  of  his  more  distinguished  countrymen.  And  his  story,  if  it 
could  be  told  with  the  details — many  of  which  lie  buried  in  the  Rus- 
sian archives,  but  some  of  which  have  been  published  and  translated 
in  well-known  works — is  as  full  of  dramatic  complexity  and  pathetic 
interest  as  was  ever  conceived  in  '  Timon  of  Athens  '  or  '  King 
Lear.'  "—Stanley,  "  The  Eastern  Church" 

Nikon  (Nikita),  who  lived  to  be  the  Russian  Luther, 
or  rather  the  Russian  John  Knox,  was  born  in  1613,  of 
very  humble  parents,  in  a  village  in  the  district  of  Nij- 


THE  STOR  Y  OF  NIKON.  297 

gorod.  As  a  boy  he  ran  away  from  home  to  become  a 
monk  in  the  Jeltovodsky  convent  of  St.  Macarius.  His 
father's  entreaties  prevailed  upon  him  to  return,  to  marry, 
and  to  be  ordained  a  priest,  and  as  such  he  worked  for 
ten  years  in  a  small  village.  Then,  after  ten  years  of 
married  life,  all  his  children  having  died,  he  persuaded 
his  wife  to  enter  a  convent,  and  himself  embraced  the 
severest  of  lives  as  the  monk  Nikon,  at  the  ice-girt  con- 
vent of  Solovetsky,  in  the  North  Sea.  Even  this  seclu- 
sion was  not  enough  for  him,  and  he  soon  went  to  share 
the  hermitage  of  the  aged  anchorite  Eleazar,  in  the  soli- 
tary island  of  Anzer.  There  he  spent  many  years  in 
prayer,  fasting,  and  "  mortifying  his  flesh  with  continual 
discipline."  Twice,  however,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  his 
retreat  :  once  to  persuade  his  wife  to  take  the  final  vows, 
and  again  to  collect  alms  for  the  convent.  These  alms, 
which  the  community  delayed  in  expending  on  the  glory 
of  God,  became  a  source  of  quarrel,  from  which  Nikon 
made  his  escape  in  a  small  open  boat,  landing  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Onega,  whence  he  went  to  the  monastery 
of  Kojeozersk,  making  his  dwelling  in  a  hermitage  on  a 
neighboring  island.  When  the  superior  of  the  monastery 
died,  he  was  with  difficulty  persuaded  to  accept  the  office 
of  its  hegumen.  Three  years  later  (1649),  after  his 
austerities  had  already  gained  him  the  reputation  of 
sanctity,  Nikon  was  compelled  by  the  necessities  of  his 
church  to  visit  Moscow,  and  there  he  was  seen  by  the 
young  Tsar  Alexis,  who,  captivated  by  his  appearance 
and  eloquence,  and  impressed  with  the  report  of  his  holy 
life,  could  not  endure  to  part  with  him,  and  that  he  might 
secure  his  society,  gave  him  the  government  of  the  Nov- 
ospasky  monastery,  the  burial-place  of  his  ancestors. 

"  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  worldly  greatness  of  Nikon  ;  but 
by  no  means  the  termination  of  his  monastic  austerities,  for  in  them  he 
continued  steadfast  even  to  his  last  hour.  Here  also  was  the  begin- 
ning of  those  strong  temptations  of  spirit,  under  the  weight  of  which 
he  at  last  gave  way,  and  from  being  exalted  was  led  to  exalt  himself. 
The  extraordinary  favor  of  the  Tsar  distinguished  the  new  archiman- 
drite before  all  others.  In  the  charms  of  his  conversation  Alexis 
Michailovitch  found  consolation  in  his  soul,  and  from  that  time  he 
accustomed  himself  to  be  guided  by  his  sage  counsels  ;  he  found  in 
him  a  zeal  for  the  Church  not  inferior  to  his  own,  and  the  loftiest 
views,  not  only  of  ecclesiastical  but  also  of  political  matters,  which  in 


298  STUDIES  IN  R USSIA. 

Nikon  proceeded  solely  from  the  originality  of  his  mind  and  from  his 
bold  openness  of  character.  During  the  course  of  three  years  the 
archimandrite  came  every  Friday  to  the  chapel  in  the  palace  for  the 
purpose  of  conversing  with  the  Tsar  after  Divine  service.  On  his  way 
he  received  petitions  from  the  people,  and  the  Tsar,  as  he  left  the 
chapel,  signified  his  pleasure  upon  them,  usually  in  favor  of  the  peti- 
tioners. In  like  manner  Nikon  already  began  to  enter  partially  into 
the  direction  of  civil  affairs." — Mouravieff. 

By  the  desire  of  the  Tsar,  Nikon  was  consecrated  arch- 
bishop of  Novogorod  the  Great  by  Paisius,  patriarch  of 
Jerusalem,  who  happened  to  be  at  Moscow.  But  Alexis 
could  no  longer  exist  without  him,  and  every  winter  per- 
suaded him  to  come  to  Moscow  ;  he  also  gave  him 
unusual  powers,  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil,  in  his 
diocese.  This  confidence  Nikon  fully  justified  by  the 
self-devotion,  firmness,  and  courage  he  showed  in  a  terri- 
ble insurrection  at  Novogorod,  where  (1649)  ne  defended 
the  governor,  Prince  Feodor  Kilkoff,  against  the  insur- 
gents. He  was  dragged  through  the  streets  and  stoned 
till  he  was  insensible,  but  he  refused  to  give  in,  and,  pro- 
ceeding to  the  town-hall,  made  so  pathetic  an  address  to 
the  rebels  that  they  submitted.1  Afterwards,  being  armed 
with  full  powers  by  the  Tsar,  he  punished  the  insurgent 
ringleaders,  but  with  the  utmost  humanity. 

Meanwhile,  both  at  Novogorod  and  Moscow,  Nikon 
showed  munificence  beyond  words  in  the  building  of  alms- 
houses  and  orphanages.  He  visited  prisons,  setting 
innocent  prisoners  free  on  his  own  responsibility  ;  he 
allowed  women  in  the  churches ;  he  was  "  no  lover  of 
images,"  and  caused  pictures  to  which  idolatrous  venera- 
tion was  paid  be  taken  away.  He  put  out  the  eyes  of  all 
the  pictures  painted  after  Frankish  or  Polish  fashion,  and 
sent  them  round  the  city  by  the  janissaries,  publishing  an 
imperial  proclamation,  in  the  absence  of  the  Tsar,  that 
whosoever  should  be  found  painting  after  such  models 
should  be  severely  punished. 

In  the  churches,  Nikon  taught  constantly  himself,  and 
the  people  thronged  from  great  distances  to  hear  him 
preach. 

i  He  spoke  to  them  almost  in  the  words  of  our  Saviour  :  "  Are  ye  come  out 
against  me  with  swords  ?  I  have  been  daily  with  you,  and  ye  did  not  touch  me, 
why  are  ye  thus  come  ?  Do  you  not  see  how  I  stand  up  before  you  and  do  not 
bend  to  you  ?  As  I  am  a  shepherd,  it  becomes  me  to  lay  down  my  life  for  the 
pheep." 


THE  STORY  OF  tflKOX.  299 

11  Me  substituted  living  addresses  of  his  own  for  the  reading  of  the 
Select  instructions  appointed  for  each  day  ;  he  also  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  church  plate,  furniture,  and  vestments,  in  which  he  loved 
cleanliness  and  magnificence,  that  they  might  become  their  high  uses. 
He  regulated  also  the  order  of  Divine  service  itself,  for,  through  an 
evil  habit  which  had  crept  in,  those  who  ministered,  for  the  sake  of 
expedition  read  at  once  in  both  the  choirs,  two  or  three  voices 
together.  The  Kathism  and  canons  for  vigil,  and  even  at  the  Liturgy 
the  Litanies  and  Exclamations,  were  run  together  with  the  singing  of 
the  choir.  The  metropolitan  strictly  forbade  such  irregularity  in  his 
diocese. " — Mouravieff. 

These,  and  the  introduction  of  softer  chants  from 
Greece,  were  the  small  beginnings  of  the  famous  reform 
of  Nikon.  The  patriarch  Joseph  was  aghast  at  them,  and 
when  Nikon  persuaded  the  Tsar  to  begin  the  correction 
of  the  church  books,  and  to  send  Arsenius,  the  bursar  of 
the  Trinity  monastery,  to  the  Holy  Places  of  the  East,  to 
see  how  the  four  Oecumenical  thrones  followed  the  rule 
of  the  Church,  and  he  returned  full  of  changes  to  be 
made,  all  the  old-fashioned  priests  began  to  murmur 
openly  against  Nikon  as  an  innovator.  Yet,  during  his 
absence  on  a  mission  to  his  old  monastery  of  Solovetsky, 
to  bring  back  thence  the  relics  of  the  murdered  St.  Philip, 
the  patriarch  Joseph  died,  and,  after  long  refusing  the 
office,  Nikon  was  persuaded,  much  against  his  will,  by  the 
most  urgent  and  tearful  entreaties  of  the  Tsar  and  people, 
to  accept  the  patriarchate.1  For  six  years  he  ruled  both 
Church  and  State  in  this  office,  and  (taking  advantage  of 
the  panic  which  arose  when,  in  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  it  was  believed  that  the  number  of 
the  Beast  applied  to  1666),  he  devoted  himself  to  the 
reformation  of  the  Russian  ecclesiastics,  especially,  while 
respecting  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  turning  his  atten- 
tion to  repressing  the  intemperance  of  the  clergy.  At 
this  time  the  Archdeacon  Paul,  who  accompanied 
Macarius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  to  Russia,  describes 
the  patriarch  Nikon  as  a  very  butcher  among  the  clergy. 
"  His  janissaries  are  perpetually  going  round  the  city, 
and,  when  they  find  any  priest  or  monk  in  a  state  of 
intoxication,  they  carry  him  to  prison,  strip  him,  and 
scourge  him.  The  prisons  are  full  of  them,  galled  with 

i  See  Plato,  History  of  Russia. 


306  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

heavy  chains  and  logs  of  wood  on  their  backs  and    legs, 
or  they  sift  flour  night  and  day  in  the  bakehouse."  * 

During  his  rule  as  patriarch,  Nikon  filled  Siberia  with 
dissolute  clergy  and  their  families.2  He  drove  out  the 
European  merchants  who  paid  no  deference  to  the  holy 
places  of  Moscow.  He  banished  the  Armenians  because 
one  of  their  merchants  refused  either  to  be  baptized  or  to 
part  with  his  long  white  beard,  though  he  offered  to  pay 
fifty  thousand  dinars  for  retaining  it.  He  ordered  three 
deacons,  who  had  married  again  after  the  death  of  their 
first  wives,  to  be  shut  up  in  a  wooden  cell  at  the  Troitsa, 
till  they  died  of  hunger.  Against  the  metropolitan  of 
Mira,  who  had  been  caught  in  the  unpardonable  sin  of 
smoking  tobacco,  he  was  so  enraged  that  he  tried  to  give 
him  up  to  a  cannibal  tribe  of  Kalmucks  that  they  might 
eat  him,  but  the  archbishop  had  contrived  to  hide  himself. 

"As  soon  as  the  chiefs  of  the  tribe  entered,  the  whole  assembly  was 
struck  with  horror.  They  bared  their  heads,  and  bowed  to  the 
patriarch  with  great  veneration,  crouching  on  the  ground  all  in  a 
lump  like  pigs.  After  various  questions  as  to  their  mode  of  life, , and 
traveling,  and  warfare,  he  said,  '  Is  it  really  true  that  you  eat  the 
flesh  of  men  ?  '  They  laughed  and  answered,  '  We  eat  our  dead,  and 
we  eat  dogs  ;  how  then  should  we  not  eat  men  ?'  He  said,  '  How  do 
you  eat  men  ?  '  They  replied,  '  When  we  have  conquered  a  man,  we 
cut  away  his  nose,  and  then  carve  him  in  pieces  and  eat  him.'  He 
said,  '  I  have  a  man  here  who  deserves  death  ;  I  will  send  for  him, 
and  present  him  to  you  that  you  may  eat  him.'  Hereupon  they  began 
earnestly  to  entreat  him,  saying,  '  Good  Lord,  whenever  you  have  any 
men  deserving  of  death,  do  not  trouble  yourself  about  their  guilt  or 
their  punishment,  but  give  them  us  to  eat,  and  you  will  do  us  a  great 
kindness.' " 

In  his  energy  for  reform,  Nikon  now  wished  to  call  in 
all  the  old  icons  and  liturgical  books,  but  this  was  vehe- 
hemently  resisted  by  the  people.  It  was  in  vain  for  the 
patriarch  to  assure  them  that  he  only  wished  to  return  to 
ancient  forms  still  observed  in  Greece  and  Constantinople  ; 
the  conservative  populace  declared  that  the  forms  accepted 
by  their  own  saints  and  martyrs  must  be  the  right  ones,  and 
that  therefore  the  patriarch  and  his  followers  must  be 
wrong.  "  In  every  nation,"  says  the  Archdeacon  Paul, 
"  men  are  to  be  found  of  a  heavy  nature  and  understand- 
ing, saying  within  themselves,  *  We  will  not  alter  our 

i  Macarius,  ii.  76.  2   Macarius,  ii.  78. 


THE  STORY  OF  NIKON.  301 

books,  nor  our  rites  and    ceremonies,  which    we  have 
received  from  of  old.'  " 

Passionate  energy  was  also  wasted  by  the  patriarch  in 
what  we  should  consider  matters  of  mere  ecclesiastical 
detail.  On  the  question  of  using  three  fingers  instead  of 
two  in  benediction,  on  the  way  of  signing  the  cross,  on 
the  color  of  altar  cloths,  on  the  right  inflexions  in  pro- 
nouncing the  creed. 

"  Nikon,  seated  on  the  patriarchal  throne,  continued  to  do  for  all 
Russia  what  he  had  before  done  for  the  one  diocese  of  Novogorod. 
He  relieved  the  poor  ;  righted  the  oppressed  ;  encouraged  virtue  and 
learning  ;  enforced  discipline,  especially  among  the  clergy,  examining 
personally  candidates  for  ordination,  and  summarily  punishing  de- 
linquent clerks  ;  he  corrected  abuses  in  the  manner  of  performing 
Divine  service  ;  introduced  a  new  and  improved  mode  of  church  singing  ; 
held  a  council  for  the  correction  and  printing  of  the  church  books  ;  and 
generally  promoted  all  necessary  and  useful  reforms.  At  the  same 
time  he  taught  diligently  himself  the  Word  of  God,  the  style  both  of 
his  preaching  and  of  his  ordinary  discourse  being  remarkable  for  the 
constant  references  he  made  in  them  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  references 
not  superficial  and  conventional,  but  natural  and  practical,  full  of  rich 
instruction  and  holy  seriousness,  and  having  a  peculiar  pointedness  of 
application.  By  these  means  he  attracted  towards  himself  the  deepest 
personal  attachment  of  religious  minds  (and  not  least  that  of  his 
sovereign),  but  also  the  jealousy  and  hatred  of  all  the  more  ignorant, 
superstitious,  and  vicious  among  the  hierarchy  and  the  lower  clergy, 
who  found  in  his  correction  of  church  books  a  powerful  handle  for 
spreading  disaffection  towards  him  among  such  of  the  people  also  as 
were  like  themselves — ignorant,  unspiritual,  and  superstitious." — W, 
Palmer,  "  Dissertations  on  Subjects  relating  to  the  Orthodox  or  Eastern- 
Catholic  Communion-" 

From  the  time  when  Nikon  accepted  the  patriarchate, 
the  Tsar  Alexis  had  become  inseparable  from  him.  They 
appeared  as  one  and  the  same  person  in  all  acts  of  gov- 
ernment, passing  all  their  days  together,  in  the  church,  in 
the  council  chamber,  and  at  the  friendly  board.  To  unite 
themselves  still  closer  by  the  bonds  of  spiritual  friendship, 
the  patriarch  became  godfather  to  all  the  children  of  the 
sovereign,  and  they  made  a  mutual  vow  never  to  desert 
each  other  on  this  side  the  grave.  When  Alexis,  on 
returning  from  his  Polish  victories,  heard  of  the  courage 
which  Nikon  had  shown  during  a  plague  which  had 
ravaged  Moscow,  and  of  his  care  of  the  royal  family  left 
behind  in  the  capital,  he  bestowed  on  the  patriarch  the 
title  of  "  Great  Lord,"  by  which  his  own  grandfather 


302  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

Philaret  had  been  styled,  and  caused  it  to  be  written  in 
all  the  acts  of  the  kingdom.  Master  of  the  most  intricate 
politics,  Nikon  now  became  the  soul  of  the  council  cham- 
ber, until,  unfortunately,  his  desire  to  recover  the  mon- 
asteries and  churches  in  the  provinces  of  Ingria  and 
Carelia  from  Sweden,  induced  him  to  urge  the  Tsar  to  a 
war  with  that  country  which  turned  out  very  unfortunately 
for  Russia.  The  prestige  of  the  patriarch's  sagacity 
having  thus  received  its  first  blow,  the  boyars  of  the  first 
class,  who  had  long  been  jealous  of  him,  and  whom  he 
had  alienated  by  the  roughness  and  arbitrariness  of  his 
manner,  took  courage  to  unite  in  plotting  his  downfall. 
His  appointment  of  Greek  and  Latin  seminaries,  the 
severity  of  his  examinations  for  ordination,  his  harshness 
of  manner,  and  above  all  his  attacking  so  many  estab- 
lished customs,  and  revising  the  services  of  the  church, 
had  also  already  alienated  the  clergy.  The  division  was 
begun,  which,  when  continued  under  Peter  the  Great, 
separated  the  Raskolniks,  or  Old  Believers,  from  the 
Orthodox  Russian  Church.  It  was  said  that  Nikon  was 
like  Luther,  who  declared  that  he  was  only  restoring 
primitive  Christianity,  whilst  he  was  abolishing  the  mass, 
sacraments,  etc. 

"Having  himself  passed  through  all  the  ranks  and  conditions  of 
clerical  life,  having  been  a  novice  in  a  monastery,  parish  priest  for  ten 
years  in  a  country  village,  and  in  the  capital ;  then,  again,  for  a  long 
time  a  monk  and  recluse  in  a  wild  solitude,  hegumen  in  a  poor  and 
lone  convent,  archimandrite  of  a  rich  monastery,  metropolitan  of  the 
first  diocese,  and  last  of  all,  patriarch  ;  he  had  experienced  all  that  a 
spiritual  person  can  experience  :  and  having  shown  in  every  station  a 
strict  pattern  of  good  conduct,  he  exacted  the  same  with  equal  strictness 
from  all  who  were  under  his  authority.  He  severely  punished  intem- 
perance, according  to  the  custom  of  those  times,  with  stripes  and  impris- 
onment, not  sparing  even  his  own  confessor." — Mouravieff. 

The  impression  which  Nikon's  independence  both  of 
action  and  conduct  was  making  upon  outsiders  may  be 
seen  from  the  report  of  the  ambassadors  of  Holstein  :— 

"  The  patriarch's  authority  is  so  great,  that  he,  in  manner,  divides 
the  sovereignty  with  the  Great  Duke.  He  is  supreme  judge  of  all 
ecclesiastical  causes,  and  absolutely  disposes  of  whatever  concerns  reli- 
gion with  such  power,  that,  in  things  relating  to  the  political  govern- 
ment, he  reforms  what  he  conceives  prejudicial  to  Christian  simplicity 
and  good  manners,  without  giving  the  Great  Duke  any  account  of  it, 


THE  STOR  Y  OF  NlKOiV.  30$ 

who  without  contestation,  commands  the  orders  made  by  the  patriarch 
to  be  executed." 

"  Nikon  keeps  a  good  table,  and  is  a  person  of  so  pleasant  a  dispo- 
sition, that  he  discovers  it  in  those  actions  that  require  the  greatest 
gravity.  For,  a  handsome  gentlewoman  being  presented  to  him  for 
his  benediction,  after  she  had  been  re-baptized  with  several  other  of 
her  friends,  he  told  her  that  he  was  in  some  doubt  whether  he  should 
begin  with  the  kiss,  which  is  given  to  proselytes  after  their  baptism,  or 
with  the  benediction." 

From  the  Archdeacon  Paul  of  Antioch,  we  learn  the 
impression  made  by  the  sound  of  a  living  practical  ser- 
mon, heard  from  the  lips  of  Nikon  for  the  first  time,  after 
many  centuries  : — 

"  Remark,  brother,  what  happened  now — an  occurrence  which  sur- 
prised and  confused  our  understandings.  It  was,  that  so  far  were  they 
from  being  content  with  their  lengthened  services,  that  the  deacon 
brought  to  the  patriarch  the  book  of  Lessons,  which  they  opened  before 
him  :  and  he  began  to  read  the  lesson  for  this  day,  on  the  subject  of 
the  Second  Advent :  and  not  only  did  he  read  it,  but  he  preached  and 
expounded  the  meanings  of  the  words  to  the  standing  and  silent  assem- 
bly ;  until  our  spirits  were  broken  within  us  during  the  tedious  while, 
God  preserve  and  save  us  !  " — Macarius,  i.  406. 

And  on  another  occasion  :— 

"  The  patriarch  was  not  satisfied  with  the  Ritual,  but  he  must  needs 
crown  all  with  an  admonition  and  copious  sermon.  God  grant  him 
moderation  !  His  heart  did  not  ache  for  the  Emperor  nor  for  the 
tender  infants  standing  uncovered  in  the  intense  cold.  What  should 
we  say  to  this  in  our  country  ?" — Macarius,  49,  51,  52. 

Yet  whilst  all  others  were  being  alienated  from  Nikon, 
he  had  still  one  friend  : — 

"  There  was  only  one  man  Who  sincerely  loved  Nikon,  from  the 
recollection  of  his  services  and  his  unchangeable  affection,  and  that 
man  was  the  mild  Tsar  Alexis,  and  to  him  alone  was  the  patriarch 
devoted  with  his  whole  soul,  and  was  zealous  even  to  excess  for  his 
glory.  .  .  .  Their  mutual  affection  possessed  them  both  to  such  a 
degree,  that  they  appeared  as  one  and  the  same  person  in  all  acts  of 
government.  .  .  .  And  indeed  this  was  the  most  affecting  circumstance 
in  all  the  fortunes  of  both  of  them,  that  even  in  the  time  of  those  long- 
continued  troubles  which  were  raised  between  them  by  the  envy  of  men 
who  wished  them  ill,  they  preserved  in  their  hearts  to  the  very  last 
moment  this  tender  friendship  ;  and  there  was  nothing  which  the  cour- 
tiers so  much  dreaded  as  the  chance  of  a  personal  meeting  between 
them. " — Mouravieff. 

Still,  as  the  influence  of  the  boyars  increased,  Alexis 


304  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

became  rarely  able  to  see  the  patriarch,  and  even  ceased 
to  attend  at  the  cathedral  when  he  officiated.  The  crisis, 
which  the  enemies  of  Nikon  had  long  hoped  for,  came 
on  the  occasion  of  a  public  reception  of  the  Tsar  of 
Georgia,  when  a  servant  of  the  patriarch  was  insulted 
and  beaten  by  those  of  the  Tsar.  Then  one  of  the 
princes  began  to  reproach  him  in  the  cathedral  for  his 
pride,  on  account  of  his  title  of  Great  Lord. 

"  At  this  Nikon  lost  all  patience,  and  gave  himself  up  to  his  indig- 
nation. When  he  had  finished  the  Liturgy,  he  declared  to  all  the 
people  that  his  unworthiness  was  the  cause  of  all  the  wars  and  pesti- 
lence, and  of  all  the  disorders  of  the  kingdom.  He  then  placed  the 
staff  of  Peter  the  Thaumaturge  on  the  icon  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
which  had  been  brought  from  Vladimir,  and  declared  with  a  loud  voice 
that  from  henceforth  he  was  no  longer  patriarch  of  Moscow  ;  he  took 
off  his  episcopal  robes,  notwithstanding  the  entreaties  of  the  clergy  and 
the  people,  put  on  a  common  monk's  mantle,  and  having  written  in  the 
vestry  a  letter  to  the  Tsar  advising  him  of  his  abdication  of  the  patri- 
archal throne,  he  sat  down  on  the  steps  of  the  ambon  and  awaited  the 
answer.  The  monarch  was  troubled  and  sent  the  Prince  Troubetskoi 
to  exhort  him  to  remain,  but  this  prince  also  was  in  the  number  of  his 
enemies.  The  people  wept  and  kept  the  doors  of  the  cathedral  shut, 
but  Nikon  remained  inflexible,  and  refusing  to  return  any  more  into 
the  patriarchal  lodgings,  went  out  of  the  Kremlin  on  foot  to  the  town 
house  of  the  Iversky  monastery,  and  from  thence  without  waiting  for 
any  permission  from  the  Tsar,  he  proceeded  to  the  monastery  of  ,the 
Resurrection,  and  refused  to  make  use  of  the  carriage  that  had  been 
sent  for  him.  Prince  Troubetskoi  went  after  him  again  to  that  mon- 
astery, to  inquire  in  the  name  of  the  Tsar  the  reason  of  his  departure. 
Nikon  answered,  that  he  sought  for  quiet  for  the  sake  of  his  soul's 
health,  again  renounced  the  patriarchate,  and  asked  only  to  be  per- 
mitted to  retain  his  three  monasteries,  the  Voscresensky,  Iversky,  and 
Krestnoy,  gave  his  benediction  to  Pitirium,  the  metropolitan  of  the 
Steeps,  to  direct  the  affairs  of  the  Church,  and,  lastly,  in  a  touching 
letter,  humbly  begged  the  Christian  forgiveness  of  the,  Tsar  for  his 
sudden  departure  from  the  capital." — Mouravieff. 

In  his  self-sought  seclusion,  Nikon,  though  he  wasted 
his  body  with  prayers  and  fasting,  and  worked  like  a 
common  mason  at  the  building  of  his  church,  was  not 
humbled  in  spirit.  He  took  to  heart  every  affront,  and 
so  continually  anathematized  his  enemies,  that  he  laid 
himself  open  to  the  false  accusation  that  he  had  cursed 
the  Tsar  himself.  Against  Alexis  alone,  however,  he 
bore  no  enmity,  and  the  Tsar  on  his  side  constantly 
defended  the  patriarch,  and  sent  presents  to  his  monas- 
tery. At  length  the  advice  of  the  only  boyar  who 


TftE  STOR  r  OF  NIKON.  305 

remained  favorable  to  him,  confirmed,  as  he  believed,  by 
a  vision,  persuaded  Nikon  to  go  secretly  by  night  to 
Moscow,  and  by  a  sudden  appearance  on  the  patriarchal 
throne,  endeavor  to  recall  the  affections  of  sovereign  and 
people.  Unfortunately  the  Tsar  was  warned  of  his 
arrival,  and  consulted  his  nobles,  to  whom  it  was  a  mat- 
ter of  life  and  death  to  prevent  an  interview,  and  they 
were  successful  in  doing  so.  Alexis  ordered  Nikon  back 
to  his  country  monastery,  and  he  went  away  bearing  with 
him  the  staff  of  Peter  the  Wonderworker,  as  a  sign  that 
he  had  never  left  his  throne  with  any  intention  of 
renouncing  it  :  he  afterward  consented  to  give  up  the 
staff  to  the  Tsar,  but  to  no  one  but  the  Tsar. 

The  fall  of  Nikon  was  now  inevitable.  Alexis  sum- 
moned the  four  Eastern  patriarchs,  and  a  number  of 
Eastern  bishops,  to  meet  in  council  in  the  palace  of  the 
patriarchs  at  Moscow,  and  by  them,  in  the  presence  of 
the  Tsar  and  his  boyars,  Nikon  was  tried.  Many  were 
the  false  accusations  produced  against  him,  especially 
that  he  had  entered  into  treasonable  correspondence 
with,  and  accepted  bribes  from  the  King  of  Poland.  But 
the  principal  reason  brought  forward  as  a  pretext  for  his 
deposition,  was  that  having  voluntarily  deserted  his  flock 
by  abdication  he  was  no  longer  fit  to  rule.  He  was 
accused  of  having  accursed  the  Tsar  Alexis  ;  this  he 
denied,  but  allowed  that  he  had  cursed  some  of  the  boy- 
ars, "  robbers  of  the  Church,"  who  having  once  given  up 
lands  for  his  monastery  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  had 
redemanded  and  recovered  them.  When  the  council 
met  for  the  third  time,  Nikon  was  formally  degraded 
and  sentenced  to  banishment. 

"  Between  Nikon  and  his  accusers  all  the  fierceness  of  long-pent 
indignation  was  let  loose.  But  between  him  and  the  Tsar  there  was 
hardly  any  thing  but  an  outpouring  of  tenderness  and  affection. 
Tears  flowed  from  the  Tsar's  eyes  as  he  read  the  accusation  ;  and  the 
sight  of  his  ancient  friend  standing,  habited  as  if  for  a  capital  sentence, 
so  moved  his  heart  that,  to  the  consternation  of  the  nobles,  he 
descended  from  the  throne,  walked  up  to  the  patriarch,  took  him  by 
the  hand,  and  burst  forth  into  a  most  plaintive  entreaty  :  '  Oh,  most 
holy  father,  why  hast  thou  put  upon  me  such  a  reproach,  preparing 
thyself  for  the  council  as  if  for  death  ?  Thinkest  thou  that  I  have 
forgotten  all  thy  services  to  me  and  my  family  during  the  plague,  and 
our  former  friendship  ? '  Mutual  remonstrances  between  the  two 
friends  led  to  recriminations  between  their  attendants.  '  That,  O 


306  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

religious  Tsar,  is  a  lie  ! '  was  the  somewhat  abrupt  expression  of  one 
of  Nikon's  clerks,  on  hearing  a  false  accusation  brought  against  his 
master.  In  the  general  silence,  produced  either  by  the  force  of 
Nikon's  replies  or  by  the  awful  presence  of  the  friendly  Tsar,  when 
Alexis  turned  round  to  see  if  some  of  his  nobles  had  any  thing  to  urge  : 
'  Why  do  you  not  bid  them  to  take  up  stones  ?  S<?  would  they  soon 
make  an  end  of  me  ;  but  not  with  words,  though  they  should  spend 
nine  years  more  in  collecting  them.'  They  parted  never  to  meet 
again. 

"  Alexis  could  not  bear  to  be  present  at  his  condemnation.  The 
third  and  last  meeting  therefore  of  the  council  was  assembled  in  a 
small  church  over  the  gates  of  one  of  the  Kremlin  convents.  Nikon 
was  degraded  from  his  office  to  the  rank  of  a  simple  monk,  and  ban- 
ished for  the  rest  of  his  life  to  do  penance  in  a  distant  monasteiy. 

"He  maintained  his  proud  sarcastic  bearing  to  the  end.  'Why 
do  you  degrade  me  without  the  presence  of  the  Tsar,  in  this  small 
church,  and  not  in  the  cathedral  where  you  once  implored  me  to 
ascend  the  patriarchal  throne  !  '  '  Take  this,'  he  said,  offering  the 
Eastern  patriarchs  a  large  pearl  from  the  front  of  his  white  metropol- 
itan cowl,  which  they  took  with  their  own  hands  from  his  head  :  '  it 
will  help  to  support  you  under  your  oppressions  in  Turkey,  but  it  will 
not  last  you  long.  Better  stay  at  home  there  than  go  wandering 
about  the  world  as  mendicants.'  It  was  in  the  depth  of  a  Russian 
winter,  and  the  Tsar  sent  him  by  one  of  the  kindlier  courtiers  a  pres- 
ent of  money  and  sable  fur  for  the  journey  to  the  far  north.  The 
impenetrable  prelate  sternly  replied  :  *  Take  these  back  to  him  who 
sent  them  ;  these  are  not  what  Nikon  wants.'  The  courtier  entreated 
him  not  to  affront  the  Tsar  by  his  refusal  ;  and  also  asked  in  the 
Tsar's  name  for  his  forgiveness  and  blessing.  '  He  loved  not  bless- 
ing,' said  Nikon,  in  allusion  to  the  logth  Psalm,  in  which  he  had 
before  cursed  all  his  enemies  except  the  Tsar,  '  and  therefore  it  shall 
be  far  from  him.'  To  the  nobles  he  shook  off  the  dust  of  his  feet; 
and  on  one  of  them  sweeping  it  up  and  saying  (in  allusion  to  the  goods 
of  the  church,  which  they  now  hoped  to  get),  that  this  was  just  what 
they  wanted,  he  pointed  to  the  comet  then  flaming  in  the  sky — '  the 
besom  star,'  as  it  is  called  in  Russ — and  said,  'God's  besom  shall 
sweep  you  all  away.'  To  the  people,  who  in  spite  of  their  prejudice 
against  his  reforms,  flocked  around  him  for  his  blessing,  he  replied  in 
a  nobler  and  more  Christian  spirit,  as  Philip  had  done  before,  the  one 
word,  '  Pray.'  The  sledge  was  at  hand  to  carry  him  off,  and  he 
entered  it  with  the  episcopal  staff  and  mantle  which  the  patriarchs,  for 
fear  of  the  people,  had  not  ventured  to  remove.  A  winter  cloak  was 
thrown  over  him  by  the  pity  of  one  of  the  more  gentle  of  the  hierarchy. 
With  a  dry  irony  he  repeated  to  himself  :  '  Ah,  Nikon,  Nikon,  do  not 
lose  your  friends.  Do  not  say  all  that  may  be  true.  If  you  would 
only  have  given  a  few  good  dinners,  and  have  dined  with  them  in 
return,  none  of  these  things  would  have  befallen  you. '  Through  the 
south  gate  of  the  Kremlin,  to  avoid  the  crowds  collected  on  the  north 
side  in  expectation  of  seeing  him  pass,  he  was  borne  away  with  the 
furious  speed  of  Russian  drivers,  across  the  ancient  bridge  of  Moskwa, 
and  rapidly  out  of  sight  of  those  towers  of  the  Kremlin  which  .had 
witnessed  the  striking  vicissitudes  of  his  glory  and  his  fall. 


THE  STOR  Y  OF  NIKON.  307 

"  At  evening,  it  is  said,  they  halted  in  a  house  from  which  the  occu- 
pants had  been  ejected.  In  the  middle  of  the  night,  when  Nikon  and 
his  attendants  had  been  left  to  themselves  in  the  piercing  cold  of  their 
destitute  condition,  a  trap-door  in  the  floor  of  the  room  opened,  an  old 
woman  came  up,  and  asked  which  was  the  patriarch  Nikon.  '  I  am 
he,'  said  the  fallen  prelate.  She  fell  at  his  feet,  and  solemnly  assured 
him  that  she  had  seen  in  a  dream  the  night  before  a  very  goodly  man 
saying  to  her  :  '  My  servant  Nikon  is  coming  hither  in  great  cold  and 
need  of  all  things  ;  now,  therefore,  give  him  what  thou  hast  by  thee 
for  his  needs.'  In  this  way  so  runs  the  story,  which  is  curious  as 
showing  the  impression  produced  on  the  popular  mind  by  Nikon's 
career — he  was  protected  against  the  severity  of  the  rest  of  the  jour- 
ney, till  his  arrival  at  the  monastery  of  Therapontoff,  on  the  shores  of 
the  White  Lake. "— Stanley . 

Nikon  was  degraded  to  the  rank  of  a  common  monk, 
and  during  nine  years  he  remained  in  imprisonment.  At 
first  this  was  very  severe  ;  the  windows  of  his  cell  were 
barred  with  iron,  and  he  was  not  permitted  to  take  exer- 
cise. He  was  offered  a  pardon,  but  refused  to  accept  it 
for  sins  he  had  never  committed.  Then  the  Tsar  per- 
petually sent  to  ask  his  forgiveness,  but  it  was  long  before 
Nikon  was  induced  to  forgive  even  personally,  as  a  man, 
and  so  far  to  send  his  blessing  as  to  desire  Alexis  to  seek 
a  fuller  and  more  complete  absolution,  which  he  could 
not  give  till  he  should  see  his  face  in  Moscow.1  In  1676 
he  received  the  news  of  the  death  of  Alexis.  Then  he 
groaned,  and  said  :  "  What  though  he  never  saw  me  to 
take  leave  of  me  here,  we  shall  meet  and  be  judged 
together  at  the  terrible  coming  of  Christ."2 

"  Alexis,  on  his  death-bed,  by  special  messengers,  as  well  as  by  his 
written  testament,  once  more  solemnly  asked  Nikon's  'forgiveness 
and  absolution,'  calling  him  his  '  Spiritual  Father,  Great  Lord,  Most 
Holy  Hierarch,  and  Blessed  Pastor,'  and  regretting  that  '  by  the 
judgments  of  God'  (that  is  to  say,  not  by  the  Tsar's  own  will)  he  was 
not  then  in  his  proper  place,  filling  the  patriarchal  throne  of  Moscow. 
And  Nikon  (though  Alexis  died  before  it  could  reach  him)  sent  once 
more  his  personal  and  verbal  forgiveness  (refusing  to  give  it  in  writing, 
lest  the  boyars  should  make  any  undue  use  of  it),  and  alluded  once 
more  with  a  sigh  to  that  public  sin  of  which  it  -was  beyond  him  either 
to  remit  the  guilt  of  to  avert  the  consequences  :  '  We  shall  meet  before 
the  dread  tribunal  of  God  ! '  " — Palmer. 

Fresh  trials  fell  upon  Nikon  after  the  death  of  Alexis. 
His  enemies  renewed  their  accusations,  and  the  young 
Tsar  Feodor  caused  him  to  be  removed  from  Thera.- 

I  Palmer.  9  Mouraviefl. 


308  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

pontoff  to  the  fortified  monastery  of  St.  Cyril,  on  the 
White  Lake,  where  he  was  kept  in  strict  confinement  for 
three  years.  At  the  end  of  this  time  the  Tsarevna 
Tatiana,  sister  of  the  Tsar  Alexis,  persuaded  her  nephew 
to  receive  a  petition  from  the  brethren  of  the  New  Jeru- 
salem for  the  return  of  their  founder,  after  which  the 
Tsar  laid  before  the  Synod  a  proposition  to  allow  the 
aged  Nikon  to  return  to  his  own  monastery  to  die,  in 
which  the  then  patriarch,  touched  by  the  report  of  his 
exiled  rival's  failing  health,  was  induced  to  acquiesce. 

"  On  the  very  same  day  on  which  the  gracious  permission  of  the 
Tsar  to  the  patriarch  arrived  at  the  monastery  of  St.  Cyril,  Nikon, 
while  it  was  yet  very  early,  from  a  secret  presentiment  had  prepared 
himself  for  the  journey,  and  to  the  astonishment  of  everybody,  ordered 
the  religious  who  were  in  personal  attendance  upon  himself  to  hold 
themselves  in  readiness.  With  difficulty  they  placed  the  old  man,  now 
worn  out  with  sickness  and  infirmity,  in  the  sledge  which  took  him  by 
land  to  a  barge  on  the  river  Sheksna,  by  which  he  descended  to  the 
Volga.  Here  he  was  to  be  met  by  brethren  from  the  Voscresensky 
monastery,  that  is  the  monastery  of  the  Resurrection,  or  New  Jerusa- 
lem, who  had  been  sent  for  that  purpose.  Nikon  gave  orders  to  drop 
down  the  Volga  as  far  as  Yaroslaf .  and  having  been  put  in  to  shore  at 
the  Tolskoy  monastery,  he  received  the  communion  of  the  sick,  for  he 
began  to  be  exceedingly  feeble.  The  hegumen,  with  all  the  brother- 
hood, went  out  to  meet  him,  accompanied  by  a  former  enemy  of 
Nikon,  the  archimandrite  Sergius,  the  same  that  during  his  trial  kept 
him  under  guard,  and  covered  him  with  reproaches,  but  had  since  been 
sent  in  disgrace  to  this  monastery  to  perform  penance.  This  Sergius, 
having  fallen  asleep  in  the  Trapeza  or  Refectory  at  the  very  hour  of 
the  arrival  of  Nikon,  saw  in  a  dream  the  patriarch  appearing  to  him, 
and  saying,  '  Brother  Sergius,  arise  ;  let  us  forgive  and  take  leave  of 
each  other  ! ' — when  suddenly  at  that  moment  he  was  awakened  and 
told  that  the  patriarch  was  actually  approaching  by  the  Volga,  and 
that  the  brotherhood  had  already  gone  out  to  the  bank  to  meet  him. 
Sergius  followed  immediately,  and  when  he  saw  Nikon  dying,  he  fell 
at  his  feet,  and  shedding  tears  of  repentance,  asked  and  obtained  for- 
giveness. 

"  Death  had  already  begun  to  come  upon  the  patriarch  by  the  time 
that  the  barge  was  moving  down  the  stream.  The  citizens  of  Yaroslaf, 
hearing  of  his  arrival,  crowded  to  the  river,  and  seeing  the  old  man 
lying  on  his  couch  all  but  dead,  threw  themselves  down  before  him 
with  tears,  kissing  his  hands  and  garments,  and  begging  his  blessing  ; 
some  towed  the  barge  along  the  shore,  others  threw  themselves  into 
the  water  to  assist  them,  and  then  they  drew  it  in  and  moored  it  against 
the  monastery  of  the  All-merciful  Saviour. 

"  The  sufferer  was  already  so  exhausted  that  he  could  not  speak, 
but  only  gave  his  hand  to  them  all.  The  Tsar's  secretary  ordered 
them  to  tow  the  barge  to  the  other  side  of  the  river  to  avoid  the  crowds 


THE  NEW  JERUSALEM.  309 

of  the  people.  Nikon  was  on  the  point  of  death  ;  suddenly  he  turned 
and  looked  about  as  if  some  one  had  come  to  call  him.  and  then 
arranged  his  hair,  beard,  and  dress  for  himself,  as  if  in  preparation  for 
his  last  and  longest  journey.  His  confessor,  together  with  all  the 
brethren  standing  around,  read  the  commendatory  prayers  for  the 
dying  ;  and  the  patriarch,  stretching  himself  out  to  his  full  length  on 
the  couch,  and  laying  his  arms  crosswise  upon  his  breast,  gave  one 
sigh,  and  departed  from  this  world  in  peace." — Mouravieff. 

While  we  have  been  following  the  history  of  Nikon,  we 
must  have  arrived  at  the  brow  of  the  hill  opposite  the 
monastery  of  Voscresensky,  or  the  New  Jerusalem.  A 


THE   NEW   JERUSALEM. 

small  chapel,  called  Eicon,  and  a  cross  mark  the  spot  on 
"  the  Mount  of  Olives "  where  Nikon  and  Alexis  met 
affectionately  for  the  last  time  at  the  consecration  of  the 
wooden  edifice  which  preceded  the  present  monastery. 
Alexis  said  to  Nikon,  as  he  looked  upon  the  view,  that 
God  seemed  from  the  beginning  to  have  prepared  it  for 
a  site  for  a  monastery,  "  for  it  is  as  beautiful  as  Jerusalem 
itself."  Then  the  heart  of  Nikon  was  moved,  and  he 
pleased  Alexis  by  giving  the  name  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
to  the  monastery,  and  charging  the  Bursar  Arsenius 
Souchanoff,  who  was  then  traveling  in  the  East,  to  collect 
manuscripts,  to  bring  him  back  a  wooden  model  of  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher  and  its  exact  measure- 
ments, that  he  might  imitate  them.  Thenceforth  Nikon 


3 1  o  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

changed  the  name  of  the  little  river  Istra  to  the  Jordan  ; 
another  brook  he  called  Kedron  ;  the  hill  nearest  the 
monastery  became  the  Mount  of  Olives  ;  a  more  distant 
wooded  height  was  Mount  Tabor.  The  center  of  the 
monastic  inclosure  is  occupied  by  the  vast  church,  to 
which  many  external  chapels  have  been  added  ;  but  inter- 
nally, its  form  and  dimensions  are  exactly  the  same  as 
those  of  the  famous  church  at  Jerusalem,  with  the 
additional  interest  of  its  being  more  exactly  like  the 
building  of  the  old  crusaders  than  the  church  in  Palestine 
itself.1 

Here  we  may  imagine  Nikon,  in  the  years  which  suc- 
ceeded his  abdication,  daily,  with  a  nude  hermit  by  his 
side,  repeating  the  curses  in  the  lopth  Psalm.  Behind 
the  altar  are  the  ranges  of  seats  which  Nikon  prepared  as 
for  a  General  Council,  surmounted  by  the  five  patriarchal 
thrones  of  Constantinople,  Antioch,  Alexandria,  Jerusa- 
lem and  Moscow.  In  the  sacristy  is  the  wooden  throne 
of  Nikon  and  his  portrait,  with  that  of  Alexis.  At  the 
foot  of  the  Golgotha,  in  the  Chapel  of  Melchizedek, 
where  the  sepulcher  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  stands  in  the 
church  at  Jerusalem,  is  the  tomb  of  Nikon.  At  one  end 
is  his  favorite  icon,  and  above  it  hangs  the  broad  iron 
plate  with  a  cross  of  brass  on  an  iron  chain,  which  he 
wore  for  twenty  years  round  his  neck. 

"  The  pious  Tsar  Feodor,  not  knowing  that  Nikon  was  dead,  had 
sent  his  own  carriage  to  meet  him,  with  a  number  of  horses.  When 
he  was  informed  of  the  patriarch's  death,  he  shed  tears,  and  asked 
what  Nikon  had  desired  respecting  his  last  will.  And  when  he  learned 
that  the  departed  prelate  had  chosen  him,  his  godson,  to  be  his  execu- 
tor, and  had  confided  everything  to  him,  the  good-hearted  Tsar  replied 
with  emotion,  '  If  it  be  so,  and  the  Most  Holy  Patriarch  Nikon  has 
reposed  all  his  confidence  in  me,  the  will  of  the  Lord  be  done.  I 
will  not  forget  him.'  He  gave  orders  for  conveying  the  body  to  the 
New  Jerusalem. 

"New  difficulties  were  raised  by  the  patriarch  Joachim  with  regard  to 
the  funeral  of  Nikon,  to  whom  he  would  not  consent  to  render  episco- 
pal honors,  objecting  that  he  had  been  degraded  by  the  sentence  of  the 
Oecumenical  patriarchs.  However,  the  Tsar  persuaded  Cornelius, 
the  metropolitan  of  Novogorod,  to  officiate  at  his  interment  without 

"  i.  There  are  no  walls  of  partition  between  the  sects.  2.  The  dome  is,  of 
larger  proportions,  higher,  and  covered.  3.  The  entrance  into  the  Chapel  of  the 
Sepulcher  from  the  antechapel  has  not  been  raised.  4.  The  Chapels  of  the  Sepul- 
cher and  of  the  Golgotha  are  without  altars.  5.  The  irregular  form  of  the  rock  by 
the  Golgotha  has  not  been  smoothed  away." — Stanley's  Eastern  Church* 


THE  NE  W  JER  U SALEM.  3 1 1 

any  permission  from  Joachim  ;  and  he  himself  in  person  took  a  part 
in  that  affecting  ceremony,  and  helped  to  bear  the  body  on  his  should- 
ers from  the  cross  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  the  spot  where  formerly 
the  deceased  had  stood  with  his  royal  father,  when  he  gave  the  name 
of  New  Jerusalem  to  his  monastery,  to  the  tomb  under  Calvary,  which 
he  had  himself  prepared  for  his  everlasting  rest.  Not  more  than  eight 
months  were  to  intervene  before  the  amiable  prince  who  had  thus 
assisted  at  the  funeral  of  Nikon  was  to  be  himself  peacefully  removed 
from  a  temporal  to  an  eternal  kingdom  ;  he,  however,  made  use  of 
this  short  space  to  obtain  letters  of  absolution  for  the  deceased  from 
the  four  Oecumenical  patriarchs,  who  unanimously  received  him  again 
into  their  pontifical  assembly. 


"  During  the  course  of  his  seventy  years  on  earth  Nikon  was  more 
or  less  contemporary  with  all  the  Russian  patriarchs.  He  was  born 
while  the  patriarchate  was  still  held  by  Job.  .  .  .  and  he  died  when 
the  last  patriarch,  Adrian,  was  already  archimandrite  of  the  Choudoff." 
— Mouravieff. 

A  picture  in  the  convent  gives  the  scene  of  the  funeral, 
the  Tsar  walking  before  the  gigantic  corpse  on  its  un- 
covered bier.  In  the  monastery  the  hat,  and  shoes,  and 
sheepskin  cloak  of  Nikon  are  preserved,  recalling  his  life 
after  his  abdication,  spent  chiefly  in  fishing,  farming  and 
building.  His  robes  at  Moscow  show  that  his  stature  was 
seven  feet. 


312  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

Many  other  curious  relics  are  exhibited  at  the  New 
Jerusalem,  including  the  valuable  wooden  model  made 
for  Nikon,  and  exactly  representing  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulcher  in  his  time,  and  the  illuminated  Gospel 
of  his  ever-faithful  friend,  the  Tsarevna  Tatiana.  In  the 
library,  thirty  pieces  of  silver  are  preserved  as  "  those 
paid  for  the  betrayal."  But  the  great  palladium  in  the 
church  is  the  icon  of  "  the  Virgin  with  three  hands," 
supposed  to  be  typical  of  the  Trinity. 

"An  artist,  being  employed  on  a  picture  of  the  Virgin  and  Child, 
found  one  day,  that  instead  of  two  hands  which  he  had  given  to  the 
Virgin,  a  third  had  been  added  during  his  absence  from  his  work. 
Supposing  some  person  had  been  playing  a  trick  with  him,  he  rubbed 
out  the  third  hand,  and,  having  finished  the  picture,  carefully  locked 
the  door  of  his  apartment.  To  his  great  surprise,  he  found  the  next 
day  the  extraordinary  addition  of  a  third  hand  in  the  picture,  as  before. 
He  now  began  to  be  alarmed,  but  still  concluding  it  possible  that  some 
person  had  gained  access  to  his  room,  he  once  more  rubbed  out  the 
superfluous  hand,  and  not  only  locked  the  door,  but  also  barricaded 
the  windows.  The  next  day,  approaching  his  laboratory,  he  found 
the  door  and  windows  fast,  as  he  had  left  them  ;  but  to  his  utter  dis- 
may and  astonishment,  as  he  went  in,  there  appeared  the  same  remark- 
able alteration  in  his  picture,  the  Virgin  appearing  with  three  hands 
regularly  disposed  about  the  Child.  In  extreme  trepidation  he  began 
to  cross  himself,  and  proceeded  once  more  to  alter  the  picture  ;  when 
the  Virgin  herself  appeared  in  person,  and  bade  him  forbear,  as  it  was 
her  pleasure  to  be  so  represented." — Clarke's  "  Travels." 

Not  half  a  mile  from  the  monastery,  in  the  wood,  is 
still  standing,  well  preserved,  the  four-storied  hermitage 
tower  of  Nikon,  the  "  skeet,"  as  it  is  called,  whence  he 
watched  the  building  of  his  monastery,  often  assisting 
the  workmen,  like  a  common  mason,  with  his  own  hands. 
A  narrow  stair  leads  to  a  tiny  chapel,  and  the  chamber 
where  he  devoted  himself  to  composing  his  chronicle — 
the  "  Chronicle  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  " — taken  from 
the  Russian  annalists  from  the  time  of  Nestor  to  that  of 
Alexis  Michailovitch.  In  the  beginning  the  author  anath- 
ematizes everyone  who  should  alter  even  the  minutest  ex- 
pression in  his  work.  A  stone  recess  is  shown  as 
"  Nikon's  bed,"  too  short  for  his  great  height,  on  which  he 
is  said  to  have  taken  his  brief  three  hours'  rest.  Here 
it  was  that  he  had  that  strange  vision  which  led  to  his 
sudden  and  unwelcome  reappearance  in  the  great 
cathedral  of  the  Kremlin. 


NIKON'S  DREAM.  313 

"  He  dreamed  that  he  was  once  more  in  his  own  beloved  cathedral, 
and  one  by  one  he  saw  rise  from  their  graves  the  whole  line  of  his 
predecessors  in  the  metropolitan  see  ;  Peter,  whose  wonder-working 
staff  he  had  laid  on  the  sacred  picture  ;  Alexis,  from  the  chapel  hard 
by,  the  champion  of  Russia  against  the  Tartars  ;  Philip,  murdered  by 
Ivan  the  Terrible  ;  Job,  the  blind  old  man,  who  had  vainly  struggled 
against  the  false  Demetrius  ;  Hermogenes,  starved  to  death  by  the 
Polish  invaders  ;  Philaret,  grandfather  of  the  Tsar  Alexis  ;  one  by 
one,  at  the  call  of  the  wonder-worker  Jonah,  they  rose  from  the  four 
corners  and  from  the  array  of  tombs  beside  the  painted  walls,  and 
took  him  by  the  hand,  and  raised  him  once  more  into  the  patriarchal 
throne.  He  woke  up  and  left  his  cramped  couch.  He  returned  by 
night  to  Moscow,  on  the  eve  of  Peter's  festival." — Stanley^  "  The 
Eastern  Church." 

The  wooded  banks  of  the  river  below  the  monastery 
present  one  of  the  softest  and  prettiest  fragments  of  scen- 
ery in  the  country.  Such  rivers  as  these  are  supposed  to 
be  the  especial  resort  of  the  Rusalkas  or  water-nymphs. 
Dressed  in  green  leaves,  they  will  sit  on  the  banks  comb- 
ing out  their  flowing  locks.  Their  strength  is  in  their 
hair,  and  if  it  becomes  dry,  they  die.  But  a  magic  comb 
can  preserve  moisture  even  in  the  hair,  and  water  flows 
forth  at  its  touch.  They  beguile  youths  and  maidens 
into  their  streams,  and  drown  them  or  tickle  them  to 
death.  The  ripple  of  the  waters  is  the  sound  of  the 
dancing  feet  of  the  Rusalka,  the  splash  of  the  water- 
wheel  is  caused  by  her  play.  In  winter  she  disappears 
and  dwells  beneath  the  water  in  a  crystal  hall.  With  the 
spring  she  comes  forth,  and  with  the  winds  is  mingled 
her  cry  for  clothing,  for  which  the  peasants  hang  rags 
upon  the  trees  near  the  streams.  The  Rusalkas  have 
great  influence  over  the  harvest,  and  in  some  parts  of 
Russia,  after  Whitsuntide,  a  straw  figure  is  dressed  in 
woman's  clothes  to  represent  a  Rusalka  ;  the  peasants 
fight  over  it  and  tear  it  to  pieces,  and  by  this  observance 
the  Rusalkas  are  supposed  to  be  put  to  flight.  After  St. 
Peter's  day  (June  29)  darker  circles  of  grass  in  the  fields 
mark  the  spot  where  the  Rusalkas  have  danced  by  the 
light  of  the  moon,  having  sometimes  induced  a  shepherd 
to  play  to  them.1 

Another  water-spirit  is  the  Vodyany,  who,  like  the 
Domovoy,  is  called  grandfather  by  the  peasants.  His 

i  Ralston. 


3 1 4  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

appearance  is  supposed  to  be  that  of  an  old  man,  but  he 
can  change  himself  into  a  fish  or  into  a  merman  with 
a  fish's  tail.  He  sleeps  during  winter,  but  the  hunger 
with  which  he  wakes  in  spring  must  be  propitiated  by  the 
peasant.  Fishermen  also,  who  depend  much  upon  his 
favor,  must  pour  oil  upon  the  waters  to  appease  him. 
Every  water-mill  is  supposed  to  have  a  special  Vodyany 
attached  to  it.1 

Travelers  might  do  worse  than  to  stay  for  a  time  at  the 
pleasant,  clean  little  inn  at  the  New  Jerusalem,  where 
they  would  be  in  the  heart  of  Russian  peasant  life,  and 
would  have  more  opportunity  of  observing  the  habits  and 
customs  of  the  people  than  is  often  available.  Though 
mingled  with  more  superstition  than  is  met  with  in 
Roman  Catholic  countries,  no  one  can  fail  to  be  touched 
by  the  religious  feeling  and  simple  faith  which  prevails. 

"  Le  moujich  croit  fermement  que  rien  n'arrive  sans  le  consente- 
ment  ou  la  volonte  des  saints,  '  qui  descendant  du  ciel,  a  1'epoque  fixe, 
pour  voir  ce  qui  se  passe  sur  la  terre,  recompenser  les  bons  et  punir 
les  mediants.'  Tel  saint  guerit  de  la  rage,  tel  autre  vous  fait  decouv- 
rir  les  voleurs  ;  il  y  a  aussi  un  saint  qui  aide  les  poules  a  pondre  et  les 
paysannes  a  vendre  les  ceufs  ;  un  saint  special,  comme  notre  Saint 
Antoine,  est  1'ami  et  le  bienfaiteur  des  cochons.  Les  saintes  ne  sont 
pas  moins  occupees.  II  y  en  a  qui  plantent  et  soignent  les  choux,  ou 
qui  protegent  les  oies  et  les  canards  ;  1'une  donne  des  garcons  aux  filles, 
1'autre  des  filles  aux  gar$ons.  Dans  les  villes,  le  clerge  conduit  aupres 
des  malades,  en  caleche  de  gala,  1'image  miraculeuse  de  la  Vierge,  et 
s'en  fait  de  beaux  revenus. " —  Victor  Tissot. 

The  peasants  are  content  with  the  merest  necessaries  ; 
indeed,  the  necessaries  of  other  European  countries  are 
luxuries  in  Russia.  In  the  well-to-do  classes  a  feast  will 
consist  of  a  little  vodkia,  tea,  and  pies  of  minced  cabbage. 
Far  more  is  made  of  all  domestic  events — christenings, 
marriages,  etc.,  amongst  the  Russians  than  the  English 
peasantry,  and  the  interest  of  such  an  event  in  a  small 
village  strikes  a  sympathetic  chord  through  every  house. 
There  is  a  regular  observance  for  the  first  washing  and 
dressing  of  an  infant,  and,  if  it  belongs  to  a  family  not  of 
the  very  lowest  order,  the  priest  is  sent  for  when  it  is 
twenty-four  hours  old,  to  offer  prayers  on  behalf  of  it  and 
its  mother,  and  to  give  it  a  name.  By  this  name  or  its 

x  See  Ralston's  Songs  of  the  Russian  People. 


CHRISTENINGS.  3*5 

diminutive  the  child  is  henceforth  known,  for  there  is 
nothing  which  answers  to  "  Baby  "  in  Russian,  though  no 
language  is  more  rich  in  terms  of  affection  (or  of  abuse). 

"  A  new-born  infant  lies  swaddled  in  its  dark  liulka,  the  convenient 
though  by  no  means  ornamental  cradle  of  the  babes  of  Russia.  A 
four-sided  bag  of  ticking  is  strongly  sewn  to  a  frame  of  wood,  which 
has  an  iron  ring  at  each  corner  through  which  are  passed  leather  straps, 
and  by  them  the  liulka  is  suspended  to  the  extremity  of  a  long  pole, 
the  other  end  of  which  passes  through  a  ring  fastened  in  the  ceiling, 
and  which  is  so  pliant  that  the  slightest  touch  given  to  the  wooden 
frame  causes  it  to  move  gently  and  noiselessly  up  and  down.  A  wide 
curtain  of  dark  print,  or  in  very  well-to-do  families,  of  silk,  hangs 
round  the  little  bed  from  the  pole. 

"  A  wrinkled  old  nurse  sits  by  the  liulka,  rocking  it  and  chanting 
in  a  cracked  and  sleepy  voice  a  monotonous  lullaby.  She  watches  the 
child  like  a  soldier  on  guard  at  a  prison  door,  and  woe  to  the  incau- 
tious visitor  who  exclaims,  '  Oh,  what  a  lovely  child  !  Ah  !  what  a 
fine  healthy  boy  ! ' 

"  '  God  bless  him  !  The  Lord  be  with  him  !  The  Holy  Virgin  be 
about  him  ! '  the  nurse  would  exclaim  indignantly.  '  Do  you  wish 
the  little  angel  to  be  bewitched,  sudarina  !  Is  it  the  first  babe  you 
have  seen — the  first  pretty  one  ?  Ah,  thou  Christ's  babe  of  mine  !  thou 
Lord's  child  of  mine  !  go  to  sleep,  my  general  ! '  Half  pleased  at 
your  praise,  half  apprehensive  of  the  effect  your  exclamation  (the 
thing  is,  to  avoid  interjections)  may  have  on  the  sleep  and  health  of 
her  charge,  she  draws  the  dark  curtains  closer  around  him,  murmuring 
prayers  for  his  welfare,  while  the  abashed  visitor  excuses  herself,  assur- 
ing the  nurse  that  she  has  by  no  means  an  evil  eye,  and  never  bewitched 
anybody  in  her  life. 

"  '  Well  !  don't  boast  ! '  retorts  the  nurse." — H.  C.  Romanoff. 

The  short  service  after  the  birth  (which  concludes 
with  an  invocation  to  Simeon)  is  followed  by  the  christ- 
ening. At  this  the  godfather  provides  a  cross  of  gold  or 
silver,  according  to  his  position,  to  hang  round  the  child's 
neck,  and  the  godmother  gives  a  dress  both  to  the  child 
and  to  its  mother  ;  the  former  being  a  little  shirt  deco- 
rated with  lace  or  ribbons.  The  "  Catechism  of  the 
Orthodox  Church  "  describes  the  ceremony  of  baptism 
by  saying  that  "  The  believer  is  immersed  three  times  in 
water,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,"  but  the  service  is  a  very  long  one,  and 
of  great  antiquity,  that  part  of  it  which  regards  exorcism 
being  mentioned  by  Tertullian  in  the  second  century, 
and  that  regarding  confession  both  by  him  and  by 
St.  Cyprian  in  the  third  century.  Before  the  actual 
sacrament  of  baptism,  the  parents,  if  previously  present, 


3 1 6  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

must  retire,  leaving  the  child  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
godparents. 

"  The  Russians  think  baptism  so  much  the  more  necessary,  in  that 
they  think  it  the  only  door  through  which  a  man  must  enter  the 
church,  and  so  into  paradise.  They  acknowledge  themselves  con- 
ceived and  born  in  sin,  and  that  God  hath  instituted  baptism  for  their 
regeneration  and  to  cleanse  them,  by  water,  from  their  original  impu- 
rity— whence  it  is  that  they  baptize  their  children  as  soon  as  they  are 
born.  If  the  child  be  weak  he  is  immediately  baptized,  yet  not  in  the 
same  room  where  the  woman  lies  in  ;  but,  if  well,  he  is  carried  to 
church  by  his  godfather  and  godmother.  The  priest  receives  him  at 
the  church  door,  signs  him  with  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  the  forehead, 
and  gives  him  the  benediction,  saying,  The  Lord  preserve  thy  coming  in 
and  thy  going  out.  The  godfathers  deliver  to  the  priest  nine  wax  candles, 
which  he  lights  and  fastens  across  the  font,  which  stands  in  the  midst 
of  the  church.  He  incenses  the  godfathers  and  consecrates  the  water 
with  many  ceremonies.  Then  he  makes  a  procession,  together  with 
the  godfathers,  who  have  wax  candles  in  their  hands,  about  the  font. 
The  clerk  goes  before,  carrying  the  image  of  St.  John,  and  they  go 
about  it  three  times,  the  priest  in  the  interim  reading  out  of  a  book. 
This  done,  the  priest  asks  the  godfathers  the  name  of  the  child,  who 
give  it  him  in  writing.  He  puts  the  paper  upon  an  image,  which  he 
holds  upon  the  child's  breast,  and  having  muttered  over  certain  prayers, 
he  asks  the  godfather  whether  the  child  believes  in  God,  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  Then  they  all  turn  their  backs  to  the  font,  to 
show  their  aversion  and  horror  to  the  three  questions  the  priest  is  to 
make  to  them  afterwards — to  wit,  whether  the  child  forsakes  the  devil, 
whether  he  forsakes  his  ange  s,  and  whether  he  forsakes  his  works. 
The  godfathers  answer  to  every  question  'Yes,'  and  spit  so  many 
times  upon  the  ground.  That  done,  they  face  about  to  the  font,  and 
then  the  priest,  having  asked  them  whether  they  promise  to  bring  up 
the  child  in  the  true  Greek  religion,  exorcises  him,  by  putting  his 
hands  upon  the  child  saying,  Get  out  of  this  child,  thou  unclean  spit  it 
and  make  "way  for  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  by  blowing  three  times  upon 
the  child  to  drive  away  the  devil,  by  whom  they  believe  children  are 
really  possessed  before  baptism.  I  have  been  told  that  now  the  exor- 
cism is  performed  at  the  church  door,  lest  the  devil,  when  he  comes 
out  of  the  child  should  profane  the  church.  Then  the  priest  cuts  off  a 
little  of  the  child's  hair  and  puts  it  into  a  book,  and  having  asked  the 
godfathers  whether  they  bring  that  child  to  be  baptized,  he  takes  him, 
being  stark  naked,  into  his  arms  and  dips  him  three  times  into  the 
water,  pronouncing  the  ordinary  words  of  the  sacrament,  I  baptize  thee 
in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
After  the  baptism  he  puts  a  corn  of  salt  into  the  child's  mouth,  makes 
the  sign  of  the  cross  in  the  forehead,  upon  the  hands,  the  breast,  and 
the  back,  with  an  oil  purposely  consecrated  for  that  use,  and  putting 
a  clean  shirt  upon  him,  says,  Thou  art  as  clean  and  as  clear  from 
original  sin  as  this  shirt.  The  ceremonies  are  concluded  with  a  little 
cross  of  gold,  silver,  or  lead,  according  to  the  ability  of  the  parents, 
such  as  our  bishops  wear,  which  the  priest  hangs  about  the  child's 


UNCTION  OF  CHILDREN.  317 

neck,  with  so  strict  an  obligation  to  wear  it  all  his  lifetime  that,  if  it  be 
not  found  upon  him  at  his  death,  they  would  not  bury  the  carcass,  but 
drag  it  to  the  common  dunghill.  The  priest  does  also  assign  the  child 
a  particular  saint,  whose  image  he  delivers  to  the  godfathers,  and 
charges  them  to  oblige  the  child,  when  he  has  come  to  years  of  discre- 
tion, to  have  a  particular  devotion  for  his  patron.  Then  he  embraces 
and  kisses  the  child  and  the  godfathers,  and  exhorts  them  to  love  one 
another,  but  above  all  things  that  they  take  heed  of  intermarrying." — 
Ambassadors'  7 ^ravels  into  Muscovy,  1636. 

Eight  days  after  baptism,  the  ceremony  of  shaving  the 
hair  (gradually  falling  into  disuse)  is  observed.  It 
begins  with  prayers,  after  which  the  priest  wipes  the  places 
anointed  in  the  ceremony  of  Unction  with  a  wet  sponge, 
saying,  "  Thou  art  baptized,  thou  art  sanctified,  thou  art 
anointed  with  oil,  thou  art  purified,  thou  art  washed,  in 
the  name  of  the  Father,"  etc. 

"  The  little  Christian,  having  nothing  of  its  own  to  offer  to  its  Maker 
but  the  hair  of  its  head,  the  first  '  sacrifice'  is  made  by  shearing  it.  In 
ancient  times  servants  were  shorn  in  token  that  they  must  fulfill  the 
will  of  another  ;  thus  the  cutting  of  an  infant's  hair  indicates  the 
newly-made  Christian  should  henceforth  be  servant  to  the  will  of 
Christ,  from  whom  he  has  just  received  so  many  gifts  of  grace.  The 
hair  is  snipped  off  in  four  different  places  at  the  top  of  the  head  with  a 
small  pair  of  scissors,  thus  forming  a  cross,  the  priest  saying,  '  The 
servant  of  God,  Alexis,  is  shorn  in  the  name,'  etc.  The  godfather 
collects  the  morsels  of  down,  and  pinching  them  up  with  a  bit  of  wax 
from  his  taper,  throws  it  into  the  font  ;  this  is  done  merely  to  insure 
that  the  hair  may,  with  the  water,  be  thrown  into  a  place  where  no 
impurity  can  reach  it,  and  no  foot  can  tread  on  it.  If  the  little  pellet 
sinks,  it  is  considered  a  sign  that  the  child  will  soon  die." — ff.  C. 
Romanoff.  • 

Forty  days  after  the  birth  of  a  child  its  mother  is 
churched,  and  the  infant  is  visibly  received  into  Christ's 
Church  by  the  reception  of  its  first  sacrament.  When  the 
royal  gates  are  opened  during  mass,  the  deacon  appears 
tvith  the  chalice,  the  infant  is  carried  to  the  steps,  and  the 
priest,  coming  forward,  puts  a  drop  of  wine  into  its 
mouth  with  a  spoon,  saying,  "  The  servant  of  God,  Alexis, 
communicates  in  the  name,"  etc. 

Children  are  almost  universally  objects  of  kindness  in 
Russia,  and  it  is  funny  to  listen  to  the  endless  affectionate 
diminutives  which  are  applied  to  them  :  lubesnoe,  my 
dear  ;  milinkoi,  my  little  dear  ;  dadushka,  my  little  grand- 
papa ;  matiushka,  little  mamma ;  drushka,  little  friend  ; 


STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

golubshik,  little  dove  ;  doushinka,  dear  little  soul.  The 
commonest  Russian  Christian  names  are  so  altered  by 
their  diminutives  as  to  be  unrecognizable.  Who  would 
discover  Agrafena  (Agrippina)  under  the  all-familiar 
Grouska,  or  Antoninaunder  Antoshka,  Sophia  under  Sonka 
or  Sonitchka,  Maria  under  Masha,  Maruska,  Marusinka, 
Mashinka ;  or  Konstantin  (Constantine)  under  Kostia, 
Hilarion  under  Laria,  and  Yakov  (James)  under  Yashinka? 
The  vaccination  of  children  is  compubory  by  law,  but  is 
often  evaded  by  a  bribe  to  the  vaccinators  from  the 
peasants,  who  believe  it  to  be  "  the  mark  of  the 
Beast." 

There  is  no  such  ceremony  as  Confirmation  in  the 
Greco-Russian  Church,  but  the  child  continues  to  receive 
the  sacrament  in  one  kind  only  from  its  baptism,  twice  a 
year,  at  Easter  and  on  its  Saint's  Day,  till  it  is  seven  years 
old,  when  it  is  brought  to  the  Easter  confession  on  Good 
Friday,  being  asked  questions  by  the  priest  to  which  it 
answers,  "  I  have  sinned,"  or  "  I  have  not  sinned,"  -^  it 
may  be,  after  which  absolution  is  given.  For  Govern- 
ment servants  yearly  confession  and  communion  are  obli- 
gatory, and  no  marriage  can  be  performed  if  either  of  the 
parties  have  not  received  the  sacrament  during  the  past 
year.  True  to  the  rule  that  every  undertaking  should 
begin  with  prayer  and  end  with  thanksgiving,  the  Greco- 
Russian  Church  even  provides  an  especial  service  for 
children  about  to  begin  or  resume  their  studies,  asking 
the  blessing  of  God  on  their  new  and  perhaps  unknown 
duties.  At  the  conclusion  even  of  long  holidays,  or  when 
a  new  governess  or  tutor  enters  a  family,  this  service 
(Moleben)  is  held  in  the  nearest  church. 

Endless  are  the  ceremonies  which  attend  a  Russian 
marriage.  First  the  numerous  "  assistants"  have  to  be 
invited.  In  the  middle  classes  these  are  the  Tysatsky,  or 
witnesses  to  the  register,  being  usually  the  most  important 
relative  of  the  pair  ;  the  ladies  of  honor  who  accompany 
the  bride  and  bridegroom  to  church  ;  Schafers,  or  brides- 
men, who  are  to  act  as  masters  of  the  ceremonies,  and 
the  Boyarin,  who  carries  the  sacred  pictures,  with  which 
the  pair  have  been  blessed,  to  church.  In  noble  families, 
where  the  wedding  generally  takes  place  in  the  evening, 
the  bridal  pair  usually  fast  (eating  nothing)  through  the 


MARRIAGES.  319 

long  day  which  precedes  it.  Among  the  peasants  the 
hand  of  the  future  bride  has  usually  been  sought  by  an 
embassy. 

"  They  always  start  at  night,  and  they  choose  a  byway,  so  as  not 
to  meet  any  one,  for  a  meeting  would  be  an  evil  omen.  Having 
arrived  at  the  house  of  the  bride's  father,  they  knock  at  the  window 
and  ask  for  admission.  Milosti prosim,  '  Do  us  the  favor,'  is  the  ordi- 
nary reply.  When  they  have  come  in  they  are  asked  to  sit  down,  but 
they  refuse  ;  '  We  have  not  come, '  they  say,  '  to  sit  down,  nor  to  feast,  but 
to  ask  in  marriage.  We  have  a  Dobry  Molodets,  a  brave  youth  ;  you 
have  a  Krasnaya  Dyevitsa,  a  fair  maiden.  Might  not  the  two  be 
brought  together  ?  '  The  parents  of  the  bride  return  thanks  for  the 
compliment,  on  which  the  visitors  take  off  their  caps  and  sit  down  to  a 
meal.  When  it  is  over  the  matchmakers  ask  for  a  final  answer.  The 
parents  at  first  plead  for  delay,  but,  if  they  see  no  objection  to  the 
match,  eventually  give  their  consent.  Upon  this  a  candle  is  lighted 
and  placed  before  the  holy  picture,  and  the  contracting  parties,  having 
crossed  themselves  and  uttered  a  prayer,  strike  hands  on  the  bargain, 
and  settle  the  matter.  After  the  Rukobitie  (rukd,  a  hand  ;  bit,  to  beat) 
the  girl  generally  begins  to  lament,  and  to  entreat  her  relatives  to 
break  off  the  match." — Ralston,  "  Songs  of  the  Russian  People." 

From  the  time  of  the  hand-striking  to  the  betrothal, 
and  from  the  betrothal  to  the  marriage,  the  girl  never 
ceases  to  "  lament  her  virginity,"  and  endless  are  the 
poetical  forms  in  which  such  lamentations  are  expressed. 
They  come  to  a  climax  in  the  wedding  songs  which  her 
companions  sing  around  the  bride,  when,  on  the  day 
before  the  wedding,  she  unplaits  her  kosd,  the  long  single 
plait  which  is  the  pride  of  the  unmarried  girls,  and  dis- 
tributes among  her  young  friends  her  krdsota,  or  "  maiden 
beauty,"  the  ribbons  or  flowers  with  which  she  was  wont 
to  braid  her  hair. 

In  ancient  times  a  betrothed  maiden  always  used  to 
send  her  future  husband  a  whip,  curiously  wrought  by 
herself,  in  token  of  her  submission  to  him,  and  on  her 
wedding  day  he  gave  her  a  gentle  stroke  upon  the 
shoulders,  to  show  that  he  had  assumed  matrimonial 
power. 

The  wedding  clothes  are  blessed  by  the  priest  in  a 
short  moleben.  The  respective  parents  of  the  bride  and 
bridegroom  give  them  a  solemn  blessing  before  they  leave 
their  homes,  waving  the  sacred  pictures  three  times  over 
their  heads,  and  in  case  of  the  bride  this  is  often  a  very 
sad  ceremony,  as  after  it  she  takes  a  weeping  farewell  of 


320  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

her  parents  and  relations.  Then  the  lady  of  honor  (this 
is  in  the  upper  classes)  leads  the  bride  to  her  carriage, 
and  the  Schafers  go  before  to  warn  the  bridegroom  to  be 
ready  to  receive  her  at  the  church  door.  The  Boyarin, 
carrying  the  picture,  precedes  the  pair  into  the  church, 
and  two  wax  tapers  are  given  them,  in  regard  to  which  it 
is  believed  that  the  bearer  of  the  taper  which  goes  out 
first  will  be  the  first  to  die. 

The  office  of  marriage  is  divided  into  three  parts,  which 
were  once  celebrated  at  different  times,  but  now  together. 

(1)  The  office  of  espousals  (in  which  a  ring  of  gold  is 
given  by  the  man  to  the  woman,  and  by  the  woman  to 
the  man,  and  afterwards  exchanged  by  the  best  man). 

(2)  The  office  of  matrimonial  coronation,  in  which  the 
bridal  pair  are  crowned  with  crowns  of   filagree  silver 
(vyentsui),  or  garlands,  in  token  of  the  triumph  of  conti- 
nence.    (3)  The  dissolution  of  the  crowns,  which  formerly 
took  place  upon  the  eighth  day,  when  the  bride  was  con- 
ducted to  the  bridegroom's  house. 

"  These  ceremonies  are  all  so  exact  a  transcript  from  those  of  the 
Roman  nuptials,  that  they  seem  to  have  been  adopted  from  that 
practice.  The  espousals,  or  contract  before  marriage,  the  ceremony  of 
the  ring,  of  the  hymeneal  torch,  the  garlands  of  flowers,  and  even  the 
distinction  of  times  lawful  or  unlawful  for  marriage,  are  all  mentioned 
as  circumstances  of  the  Roman  nuptials  by  historians,  or  alluded  to  by 
the  poets  and  other  authors." — King. 

During  the  last  ceremony  wine  mingled  with  water  is 
given,  in  allusion  to  the  marriage  of  Cana.  Then  the 
priest,  followed  by  the  bridal  pair,  walks  three  times  round 
the  "  maloy  "  upon  which  the  Cross  and  Gospels  are 
placed,  an  exhortation  is  pronounced,  the  pair  are  desired 
to  kiss  each  other  three  times,  and  the  benediction  con- 
cludes the  service,  after  which  the  newly  married  pair  go 
together  to  kiss  all  the  holy  pictures  on  the  iconastos. 

"The  peasant  bridegroom  now  leads  his  bride  to  his  home.  On 
the  top  of  the  steps  leading  into  the  house  his  father  and  mother  meet 
the  young  couple,  and  bless  them  with  bread  and  salt,  while  some  of 
the  other  relatives  pour  over  them  barley  and  down,  and  give  them 
fresh  milk  to  drink — the  first  that  they  may  live  in  harmony  and 
happiness,  and  the  second  '  that  their  children  may  be  not  black,  but 
white.'  The  young  people  enter  the  house  and  sit  down  on  a  bench, 
the  Princess  (now  no  longer  called  Knyazhna,  but  Knyaginya,  as  being 
a  married  woman)  hiding  her  face  from  sight  with  a  handkerchief. 


PEA  SANT  BRIDES,  321 

Then  comes  her  mother-in-law,  or  an  aunt,  takes  away  the  handker- 
chief, divides  her  loosely  hanging  tresses  into  two  parts,  and  sets  on 
her  head  the  Povotnik,  or  married  woman's  headdress.  After  that 
begins  the  Knyazhemtsky  Sto!,  or  '  Princely  Table,'  the  wedding 
breakfast  of  Russian  peasant  life,  which  is  celebrated  with  great  mirth 
and  spirit.  Towards  the  end  of  it  the  young  couple  retire  to  their 
chamber,  round  which,  in  old  times,  one  of  the  party,  called  a  /Clyetnik, 
used  to  watch." — Ralston,  "  Songs  of  the  Russian  People" 

It  is  a  law  of  the  Church  that  boys  must  not  marry  till 
they  are  eighteen,  or  girls  till  they  are  sixteen  ;  men  must 
not  marry  after  eighty,  or  women  after  sixty  ;  if  you 
marry  twice  you  have  two  years'  penance,  i.  e.,  exclusion 
from  Holy  Communion  ;  if  you  marry  three  times  you 
have  five  years'  penance  ;  a  fourth  marriage  is  impos- 
sible. 

Almost  all  peasant  alliances  are  manages  de  convenance, 
though  the  brides  generally  have  nothing  but  their  trous- 
seau. Often  the  bride  looks  forward  with  terror  to  the 
family  into  which  she  is  about  to  marry,  regarding  its 
members  as  piercing  thorns  and  stinging  nettles,  while 
they  on  their  part  regard  her  as  a  "  she-bear,"  "  a  sloven," 
etc.  In  one  of  their  songs  a  girl  complains  : — 

' '  They  are  making  me  marry  a  lout 

With  no  small  family. 
Oh  !  oh  !  oh  !  oh,  dear  me  ! 
With  a  father  and  a  mother, 

And  four  brothers, 

And  sisters  three. 
Oh  !  oh  !  oh  !  oh.  dear  me  ! 
Says  my  father-in-law, 

'  Here  comes  a  bear  ! ' 
Says  my  mother-in-law, 

'  Here  comes  a  slut  \ ' 
My  sisters-in-law  cry, 

'  Here  comes  a  do-nothing  ! ' 
My  brothers-in-law  exclaim, 

'  Here  comes  a  mischief-maker  ! ' 
Oh  !  oh  !  oh  !  oh,  dear  me  !  "  J 

Many  of  the  songs  sung  in  dialogue  form  at  the  Khoro- 
vods  relate  to  the  sorrows  of  a  young  wife,  and  her 
slavery  to  her  parents-in-law.  Such  is  : — 

i  Ralston. 


322  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

"THE  WIFE. 

' '  Fain  would  I  be  sleeping,  dreaming  : 
Heavy  lies  my  head  upon  the  pillow. 
Up  and  down  the  passage  goes  my  husband's  father, 
Angrily  about  it  he  keeps  pacing. 

"CHORUS. 

"  Thumping,  scolding,  thumping,  scolding, 
Never  lets  his  daughter  sleep. 

"  FATHER-IN-LAW. 

"  Up,  up,  up  !  thou  sloven  there  ! 
Up,  up,  up,  thou  sluggard  there  ! 
Slovenly,  sluggardly,  sluggardish  slut ! 

"THE   WIFE. 

"  Fain  would  I  be  sleeping,  dreaming  : 
Heavy  lies  my  head  upon  the  pillow. 
Up  and  down  the  passage  goes  my  husband's  mother, 
Angrily  about  it  she  keeps  pacing. 

"  CHORUS. 

"  Thumping,  scolding,  thumping,  scolding, 
Never  lets  her  daughter  sleep. 

' '  MOTHER-IN-LAW. 

"  Up,  up,  up  !  thou  sloven  there  ! 
Up,  up,  up  !  thou  sluggard  there  ! 
Slovenly,  slatternly,  sluggardish  slut  ! 

"  THE   WIFE. 

"Fain  would  I  be  sleeping,  dreaming  : 
Heavy  lies  my  head  upon  the  pillow. 
Up  and  down  the  passage  steals  my  well-beloved  one, 
And  all  so  lightly,  softly,  keeps  he  whispering  : 

"  THE    LOVER. 

"  Sleep,  sleep,  sleep,  my  darling  one  ! 
Sleep,  sleep,  sleep,  my  precious  one  ! 
Driven  out,  thrown  away,  married  too  soon  !  " 

Ralston,   ' '  Songs  of  the  Russian  People. " 

Except  in  the   provisions  for    "  painting,"  which   the 
husbands  were  expected  to  make,   few  of  the  customs 


MARRIAGE  CUSTOMS.  323 

atending  a  Russian  peasant  marriage  are  much  changed 
since  the  following  description  was  written  more  than 
three  hundred  years  ago  : — 

"  Their  matrimonie  is  nothing  solemnized,  but  rather  in  most  points 
abhominable,  and  as  neare  as  I  can  learne,  in  this  wise  following : — 

"First,  when  there  is  love  between  the  parties,  the  man  sendeth 
unto  the  woman  a  small  chest  or  boxe,  wherein  is  a  whip,  needles, 
thread,  silke,  linnen  cloth,  sheares,  and  such  necessaries  as  she  shall 
occupie  when  she  is  a  wife,  and  perhaps  sendeth  therewithall  raisins, 
figs,  or  some  such  things,  giving  her  to  understand  that  if  she  doe 
offend,  she  must  be  beaten  with  the  whip  ;  and  by  the  needles,  thread, 
cloth,  etc.,  that  she  should  apply  herself e  diligently  to  sowe,  and  doe 
such  things  as  shee  could  best  doe  ;  and  by  the  raisins  or  fruites  he 
meaneth  if  she  does  well,  noe  good  thing  shall  be  withdrawn  from 
her,  nor  be  too  deare  for  her :  and  she  sendeth  unto  him  a  shirt,  hand- 
kerchief, and  some  such  things  of  her  owne  making.  And  now  to  the 
effect. 

"  When  they  are  agreed,  and  the  day  of  marriage  appointed,  when 
they  shall  goe  toward  the  church,  the  bride  will  in  noe  wise  consent  to 
go  out  of  the  house,  but  resisteth  and  striveth  with  them  that  would 
have  her  out,  and  faineth  herself  to  weepe,  yet  in  the  end  two  women 
get  her  out,  and  lead  her  toward  the  church,  her  face  being  covered 
close,  because  of  her  dissimulatio,  that  it  should  not  be  openly  per- 
ceived ;  for  she  maketh  a  great  noise,  as  though  she  were  sobbing  and 
weeping,  until  she  come  at  the  church,  and  then  her  face  is  uncovered. 
The  man  cometh  after  among  other  of  his  friends,  and  they  carry  with 
them  to  the  church  a  great  pot  with  wine  or  mead ;  then  the  priest 
coupleth  them  together,  much  after  our  order,  one  promising  to  love  and 
serve  the  other  during  their  lives  together,  etc.,  which  being  done, 
they  begin  to  drinke  ;  and  first  the  woman  drinketh  to  the  man,  and 
when  he  hath  drunk  he  letteth  the  cuppe  fall  to  the  ground,  hasting 
immediately  to  tread  upon  it,  and  so  doth  she,  and  whether  of  them 
tread  first  upon  it  must  have  the  victorie  and  be  master  at  all  times 
after,  which  commonly  happeneth  to  the  man,  for  he  is  readiest  to  set 
his  feet  on  it,  because  he  letteth  it  fall  himselfe  ;  then  they  goe  home 
againe,  the  woman's  face  being  uncovered.  The  boyes  in  the  streetes 
crie  out  and  make  a  noyse  in  the  meane  time,  with  very  dishonest 
wordes. 

* '  When  they  come  home,  the  wife  is  set  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
table,  and  the  husband  next  unto  her  ;  they  fall  to  drinking  till  they 
bee  all  drunke  ;  they  perchance  have  a  minstrell  or  two,  and  two 
naked  men,  which  led  her  from  the  church,  dannce  naked  a  long  time 
before  all  the  companie.  When  they  are  wearie  of  drinking,  the  bride 
and  the  bridegroom  get  them  to  bed,  for  it  is  in  the  evening  alwayes 
when  any  of  them  are  married  ;  and  when  they  are  going  to  bedde, 
the  bridegroom  putteth  certain  money  both  golde  and  silver,  if  he 
have  it,  into  one  of  his  boots,  and  then  sitteth  down  in  the  chamber 
crossing  his  legges.  and  then  the  bride  must  plucke  off  one  of  his 
boots,  which  she  will  ;  and  if  she  happen  on  the  boote  wherein  the 
money  is,  she  hath  not  onely  the  money  for  her  labor,  but  is  also  at 


324  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

such  choyse,  as  she  need  not  ever  from  that  day  to  put  off  his  boots, 
but  if  she  misse  the  boot  where  the  money  is,  she  doth  not  onely  lose 
the  money,  but  is  also  bound  from  that  day  forward  to  pull  off  his 
boots  continually. 

"  Then  they  continue  in  drinking  and  making  good  cheere  three 
daies  following,  being  accompanied  with  certaine  of  their  friends,  and 
during  the  same  three  daies  he  is  called  a  duke,  and  shee  a  dutches, 
although  they  be  very  poore  persons,  and  this  is  as  much  as  I  have 
learned  of  their  matrimony  ;  but  one  common  rule  is  among  them,  if 
the  woman  be  not  beaten  with  the  whip  once  a  weeke,  she  will  not  be 
good,  and  therefore  they  looke  for  it  orderly,  and  the  women  say,  that 
if  their  husbands  did  not  beate  them,  they  should  not  love  them. 

"  They  .use  to  marry  very  young  ;  their  sonnes  at  sixteen  and 
eighteen  yeares  olde,  and  the  daughters  at  twelve  or  thirteen  yeares  or 
yonger  ;  they  use  to  keepe  their  wives  very  closely,  I  meane  those  that 
be  of  any  reputation,  so  that  a  man  shall  not  see  one  of  them  but  at  a 
chance,  when  she  goeth  to  church  at  Christmas  or  at  Easter,  or  els 
going  to  visite  some  of  her  friends. 

"  The  husband  is  bound  to  finde  the  wife  colors  topaynt  her  withall, 
for  they  use  ordinarily  to  paynt  themselves  ;  it  is  such  a  common 
practise  among  them,  that  it  is  counted  for  no  shame  ;  they  grease 
their  faces  with  such  colors,  that  a  man  may  discern  them  hanging  on 
their  faces  almost  a  flight  shoote  off  :  I  cannot  so  well  liken  them  as  to 
a  miller's  wife,  for  they  looke  as  if  they  were  beaten  about  the  face 
with  a  bagge  of  meale,  but  their  eyebrowes  they  color  as  blacke  as 
ieat. " — A  ntho  nie  Jenki 'nson,  1557. 

"  Scratch  the  Russian  and  you  will  find  the  Turk  under- 
neath," was  a  saying  of  the  Prince  de  Ligne,  and  those 
who  have  written  of  Russian  peasant  life  never  fail  to 
take  as  their  theme  the  seclusion  of  the  wives,  and  the 
monotony  of  the  women's  existence,  "  constantly  dream- 
ing of  what  others  do."  The  inferiority  with  which 
Russian  women  of  the  lower  orders  are  regarded  is  shown 
in  nothing  more  than  in  some  of  the  Russian  proverbs 
most  in  use,  such  as  "  The  wits  of  a  woman  are  like  the 
wildness  of  beasts,"  "  The  hair  is  long,  but  the  mind  is 
short,"  "  As  the  horse  by  a  bit,  so  must  a  woman  be 
governed  by  threats,"  "  Towns  built  by  women  do  not 
last,"  "Walls  built  by  women  do  not  rise  high." 

"  Toute  sa  vie  la  femme  russe  est  en  tutelle  :  d'abord  sous  la 
tutelle  de  son  pere  ou  d'un  autre  membre  de  la  famille,  et  plus  tard 
sous  celle  du  mari.  On  lui  apprend  a  obeir  a  rhomme  comme 
1'esclave  obe'it  au  maitre  ;  a  se  regarder  comme  la  proprie'te,  la 
"  chose  "  de  1'homme  ;  a  ne  pas  permettre  qu'on  1'appelle  maitresse 
(gospoja),  a  ne  voir  dans  son  mari  qu'un  maitre.  Une  paysanne 
russe  qui  n'est  pas  de  temps  en  temps  rossee,  se  plaint  d'etre  negligee 


THE  DOMOSTROI.  325 

de  son  epoux.     Le  proverbe  dit :   '  Je  t'aime  comme  mon  ame  at  je  te 
bats  comme  ma  pelisse.'  " — Victor  Tissot. 

The  Domostroi,  or  "  Organization  of  Domestic  Life," 
the  curious  manual  of  household  economy,  written  by  the 
monk  Silvester,  the  early  minister  of  Ivan  the  Terrible, 
says,  "  The  wife  should  be  obedient  in  all  things,  and  for 
her  faults  should  be  severely  whipped,  though  not  in 
anger.  Her  duty  is  to  keep  the  house  ;  to  look  after  the 
food  and  clothing  ;  to  see  to  the  comfort  of  her  husband  ; 
and  to  bear  children,  though  not  to  educate  them."  l 
Severity  toward  children  is  inculcated,  and  to  play  with 
their  children  is  in  parents  "  a  sin,  a  temptation  of  the 
devil."  The  wife  is  bound  to  stay  at  home  and  to  be 
acquainted  with  nothing  but  household  work.  To  all 
questions  on  outside  matters  she  is  to  answer  that  she 
"  does  not  know." 

In  Russia,  in  all  public  and  private  legal  transactions, 
the  custom  is  to  count  by  souls.  In  other  parts  of  Europe 
they  count  by  heads,  but  like  Mahommedans,  the  Rus- 
sians assume  that  only  men,  and  not  women,  have  or  are 
souls.  Apropos  of  this  there  are  two  well-known  popular 
proverbs  :  "  There  is  only  one  soul  to  every  ten  women  ;" 
and  "  A  woman  has  no  soul,  she  is  nothing  but  vapor  and 
smoke." 

Whatever  the  other  trials  of  their  married  life  may  be, 
there  is  no  country  in  which  the  women  are  expected  to 
do  less  work  than  in  Russia.  As  showing  that  there  are 
occasions  on  which  the  wife  also  has  the  upper  hand,  a 
humorous  little  Russian  story  represents  in  a  dialogue  the 
contradictoriness  of  a  Russian  peasant  wife,  and  the 
patience  of  her  husband  : — 

Peasant.   Dear  wife,  we  will  sow  this  barley. 
Wife.   Husband,  it  is  not  barley,  it  is  buckwheat. 
Peasant.   So  be  it,  I  will  not  dispute  it. 

Peasant.   See,  wife,  how  well  the  barley  has  come  up  ! 
Wife.   It  is  not  barley,  it  is  buckwheat. 
Peasant.   So  be  it,  I  will  not  dispute  it. 

Peasant.   The  barley  is  ripe,  we  will  cut  it ! 
Wife.  It  is  not  barley,  it  is  buckwheat. 
Peasant.  Buckwheat  let  it  be,  I  will  not  dispute  it. 

i  See  the  Domostroi,  edited  by  M.  Takovlef.    St.  Petersburg,  1867. 


326  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A. 

Peasant.  The  barley  is  threshed  now — how  fine  it  is  ! 
Wife.   It  is  not  barley,  it  is  buckwheat. 
Peasant.   Buckwheat  let  it  be,  I  will  not  dispute  it. 

Peasant.  What  beautiful  barley-malt  !     We  will  brew  beer  with  it. 
Wife.  It  is  not  malt  of  barley,  but  of  buckwheat. 
Peasant.  Buckwheat-malt  let  it  be,  I  will  not  dispute  it. 

Peasant.  What  delicious  beer  from  our  barley-malt  ! 

Wife.   It  was  not  barley-malt,  but  buckwheat-malt. 

Peasant.  So  be  it,  I  will  not  dispute  it  ;  but  I  never  heard  of  buck- 
wheat-malt, or  that  beer  was  brewed  from  it. — Haxthausen,  "  The 
Russian  Empire." 

Very  early  marriages  are  almost  universal  : — 

"  Fathers  of  families  have  generally  the  greatest  interest  in  the 
marriage  of  their  sons.  It  is  not  the  custom  for  married  sons  to 
establish  a  separate  household,  so  long  as  the  head  of  the  family  is 
living  ;  every  marriage,  therefore,  brings  gain  to  the  latter,  who 
acquires  a  new  share  in  the  land,  besides  the  services  of  a  new  daughter- 
in-law. 

"  Early  marriages  presenting  so  many  advantages,  celibacy  is  almost 
unknown  among  the  common  people.  Until  recent  times,  boys  were 
married  so  young,  that,  according  to  Wichelhausen,  in  his  description 
of  Moscow,  vigorous  women  of  four-and-twenty  might  frequently  be 
seen  carrying  in  their  arms  their  betrothed  husbands  of  six  years  of 
age  !  The  Government,  however,  has  now  prohibited  the  marriage 
of  boys  before  their  eighteenth  year." — Haxthausen. 

In  the  Domostroi,  Silvester  describes  the  tricks  which 
were  often  practiced  in  his  time  when  it  came  to  choos- 
ing a  wife  :  the  stool  concealed  under  the  maiden's  dress 
to  make  her  look  taller,  the  substitution  of  her  prettier 
sister  or  maid  upon  the  few  occasions  on  which  the  bride- 
groom was  allowed  to  see  her  before  marriage. 

When  the  peasant  household  is  established,  monoton- 
ous melancholy  characterizes  it.  Existence  is  a  dull 
routine  of  the  different  duties  brought  by  the  change  of 
the  seasons  :  the  only  variety  is  brought  by  the  fasts 
and  festivals  of  the  Church,  even  these  are  monoton- 
ous ;  and  over  the  brief  summer  always  hangs  the 
shadow  of  the  coming  winter,  with  its  confinement  and 
darkness. 

' '  The  bird  of  God  does  not  know — either  anxiety  or  labor  ; — it 
does  not  laboriously  weave— a  nest  to  last  ; — through  the  long  nights 
it  sleeps  upon  a  bough  : — when  the  beautiful  sun  arises, — the  bird, 
recognizing  the  voice  of  God, — starts  up  and  sings. 


THE  POOR  MAN'S  LOT.  327 

' '  After  the  gay  spring-tide — comes  the  glowing  summer, — the  slow- 
coming  autumn  brings — mist  and  rain  :  to  men  trouble,  to  men  wear- 
iness ; — the  bird  flies  away  till  the  spring — into  distant  countries, — 
into  the  warm  lands,  beyond  the  blue  sea." — Pouchkine. 

"  The  Poor  Man's  Lot,"  one  of  the  best-known  poems 
of  Koltsof  (1809-1842),  the  poet  of  the  people,  dwells 
on  the  dreariness  of  Russian  peasant-life,  especially  in 
the  days  of  serfs,  when  they  could  be  moved  at  will  from 
one  landlord  to  another. 

"  White  bread,  amongst  strangers, — is  bitter  ; — it  is  as  an  undiluted 
drink — which  intoxicates. — Free  speech — is  fettered: — ardent  senti- 
ments— die  without  an  echo. — If  joy  sometimes — escapes  from  the 
soul, — it  is  poisoned  at  once — by  malignant  sarcasms. — The  bright 
and  clear  day — clouds  over  ;  the  world  veils  itself — under  a  cloud  of 
sadness. — You  listen,  you  look — with  a  smile  ; — and  in  your  heart 
you  curse  your  sad  fate." 

Russian  peasants  are  far  less  apt  to  acknowledge 
themselves  ill,  especially  to  lie  in  bed,  than  those  of  other 
countries.  They  will  seldom  send  for  a  doctor,  but,  on 
the  rare  occasions  on  which  they  take  physic,  they  always 
cross  themselves  and  ask  God's  blessing  upon  it. 

The  medical  adviser  of  the  peasantry  is  generally  a 
baboushka  (literally,  grandmother),  or  wise  woman,  who 
generally  treats  all  ailments  as  the  result  of  witchcraft, 
and  endeavors  to  cure  them  by  charms,  which  are  often 
of  the  most  extraordinary  nature.  But  when  it  is  per- 
ceived, usually  by  the  instinct  of  the  patient,  that  an  ill- 
ness must  be  fatal,  Extreme  Unction  is  resorted  to.  If 
the  patient  is  still  able  to  go  out,  this  is  performed  after 
mass,  in  the  body  of  the  church,  the  invalid  being  placed 
in  a  chair,  with  his  face  toward  the  royal  gates,  and  is  a 
strangely  solemn  service.  But  naturally  Extreme  Unc- 
tion generally  takes  place  in  a  house.  In  all  cases  the 
service  concludes  by  the  patient  asking  for  the  blessing 
and  personal  forgiveness  of  the  priest  and  of  all  present, 
infinitely  touching  to  the  friends  of  the  dying  person. 
The  Service  for  Confession  and  Communion  of  the  Sick 
is  nearly  the  same  as  our  own.  As  the  last  moment 
approaches,  the  friends  lay  a  saint's  picture  at  the  back  of 
the  pillow,  and  stick  a  lighted  taper  at  the  head  of  the 
bed.  "  The  poor  lay  the  dying  on  the  bench  '  under  the 
Saints,'  or  picture  in  the  corner.  When  a  child  is  expir- 


328  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

ing,  the  father  or  mother  takes  it  gently  on  a  pillow,  and 
holds  it,  crossing  and  blessing  it  repeatedly  all  the  time, 
under  the  picture,  while  it  sighs  its  innocent  breath 
away."  1 

When  a  death  has  occurred,  the  corpse  is  fully  dressed 
in  its  best  clothes  (in  the  case  of  persons  in  the  Imperial 
service,  in  full  uniform),  and  laid  out  in  the  center  of  the 
largest  room  in  the  house,  on  a  table  or  catafalque,  hung 
with  white,  and  surrounded  with  burning  candles.  It  is 
never  left  alone.  Day  and  night  for  the  three  days  which 
precede  the  funeral,  a  "  Reader  "  reads  the  Psalms  aloud, 
over  and  over  again,  being  generally  a  peasant  whose 
age  unfits  him  for  any  other  employment.  A  priest  also 
comes  to  sing  a  requiem,  in  which  the  most  remarkable 
feature  is  the"  Everlasting  Remembrance."  After  pray- 
ers for  the  soul  of  the  deceased  and  for  the  forgiveness 
of  all  his  sins,  voluntary  and  involuntary,  he  says  :  "  With 
the  Saints  let  the  soul  of  thy  deceased  servant,  O  Lord, 
rest  in  peace,  and  keep  him  in  Everlasting  Remem- 
brance ;  "  and  the  choir  take  up  the  last  words,  and  sing 
them  several  times.  In  accordance  with  James  i.  27,  all 
the  acquaintance  of  the  house  visit  it  in  mourning,  and 
even  the  passers-by,  who  are  unknown  to  the  family,  come 
in  to  pay  their  respects  to  the  dead  and  pray  for  his  soul. 
Alms  are  also  given  to  beggars,  with  injunctions  to  pray 
for  the  soul. 

A  letter  is  sent  to  all  friends  at  a  distance  :  "  Alexis 
Alexandrovitch "  (the  deceased)  "  desires  his  compli- 
ments, and  wishes  you  may  live  long  " — which  is,  in  fact, 
announcing  that  he  had  ceased  to  live.  The  sorrowing 
answers  always  contain  the  expression — "  May  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  be  his  !  " 

Among  the  peasants  in  some  parts  of  Russia  there 
are  professional  mourners,  who  are  sent  for  to  pro- 
nounce long  poetical  lamentations  over  the  corpse. 
Great  care  is  also  taken  to  provide  the  dead  person  with 
what  he  requires  on  his  long  journey — a  handkerchief, 
with  which  to  wipe  his  face,  and  a  coin,  which  in  ancient 
times  was  intended  to  pay  the  ferryman  to  the  other 
world.  Parings  of  nails  are  also  often  supplied  to  the 
corpse,  as  by  their  means  his  soul  will  be  able  to  clamber 


FUNERALS.  329 

up  the  steep  sides  of  the  hill  leading  to  heaven.1  It  is 
necessary  also  that  the  funeral  should  take  place  before 
sunset,  as  afterward,  with  no  sun  to  guide  it,  the  wan- 
dering spirit  would  be  certain  to  lose  its  way. 

"  Parmi  les  paysans  russes,  1'usage  s'est  encore  conserve  de  parler 
au  mort  avant  de  se  se'parer  pour  toujours  de  ses  restes.  D'ou  vient, 
lui  dit-on,  que  tu  nous  as  abandonnes  ?  etais-tu  done  malheureux  sur 
cette  terre  ?  ta  femme  n'e'tait-elle  pas  belle  et  bonne  ?  pourquoi  done 
1'as  tu  quittee  ?  Le  mort  ne  repond  rien,  mais  le  prix  de  1'existence 
est  ainsi  proclame  en  presence  de  ceux  qui  le  conservent  encore." — 
Madame  de  Stael. 

On  the  day  of  the  funeral  all  the  friends,  neighbors, 
and  acquaintance  of  the  deceased  collect  in  the  house  of 
mourning,  where  a  short  service  takes  place,  after  which 
the  family  take  leave  of  the  dead.  Then,  with  cross 
and  candles,  and  a  procession,  bareheaded  even  in  the 
severest  winter,  the  corpse  is  carried  to  church.  Every- 
one who  passes  uncovers  and  recites  a  prayer  for  the 
dead.  As  the  corpse  is  borne  along,  the  trisagion  is 
always  sung.  On  reaching  the  church,  the  coffin  is 
placed  before  the  royal  gates,  and  tapers  are  given  to  all 
the  bystanders,  which  are  extinguished  after  the  reading 
of  the  Gospel.  Then  a  prayer — '  the  Confession  of  the 
Faithful  Soul ' — sometimes  falsely  described  as  a  pass- 
port for  the  dead)  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  corpse. 
It  is  the  prayer  of  St.  Theodosius  of  Kieff,  for  absolu- 
tion from  sin,  which  was  made  compulsory  by  St.  Vladi- 
mir (988),  who  was  himself  buried  with  it  in  his  hands. 
Then  a  "  coronet,"  printed  usually  with  a  text  in  gold,  is 
placed  on  the  brow  of  the  dead,  and  the  bystanders  are 
exhorted  to  draw  near  and  give  the  last  kiss  to  the 
departed,  in  such  words  as  these  :— 

"  Come,  my  brethren,  let  us  give  our  last  kiss,  our  last  farewell  to 
our  deceased  brother,  giving  thanks  to  God.  He  hath  now  forsaken 
his  kindred,  and  approacheth  the  grave,  no  longer  mindful  of  vanity 
or  the  cares  of  the  world.  Where  are  now  his  kindred  and  his  friends  ? 
Behold,  we  are  now  separated.  Let  us  pray  to  the  Lord  to  give  him 
rest. 

"  Oh,  my  brethren,  what  a  separation  ;  what  lamentation  and  wail- 
ing accompany  this  sad  hour  !  Approach,  embrace  him  who  lately 
was  one  of  yourselves.  He  is  delivered  up  to,  the  grave  ;  he  is  cov- 

i  See  Ralston,  from  Afanasief , 


330  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA. 

ered  with  a  stone  ;  he  sojourneth  in  darkness,  and  is  buried  among  the 
dead.  Now  he  is  separated  from  his  kindred  and  friends,  therefore 
let  us  pray  to  the  Lord  to  give  him  rest. 

"  Every  sinful  connection  with  life  and  vanity  is  broken.  The 
spirit  hath  forsaken  her  mansion  :  the  clay  is  disfigured,  the  vessel  is 
broken  :  we  carry  a  speechless,  motionless,  senseless  corpse  to  the 
grave  !  Let  us  entreat  the  Lord  to  grant  him  eternal  rest. 

"  What  is  our  life?  A  flower,  a  vapor,  the  dew  of  the  morning. 
Approach  then,  let  us  contemplate  the  grave  with  attention  !  Where 
is  the  form  of  grace,  where  is  youth,  where  is  the  brightness  of  the 
eye,  where  the  beauty  of  coloring  ?  All — all  are  withered  like  grass  ; 
all  are  vanished.  Come  then,  and  with  tears  let  us  fall  down  before 
Christ."  etc. — King. 

The  coffin  is  now  closed  and  carried  to  the  grave,  and, 
as  it  is  lowered,  the  priest  throws  a  handful  of  earth  upon 
it,  with  the  words  :  "  The  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the 
fulness  thereof,  and  the  wide  world,  and  they  that  dwell 
therein."  The  lamp  or  wine-glass  used  for  Extreme 
Unction  is  then  thrown  into  the  grave,  with  any  thing 
that  remains  in  it,  and  some  ashes  from  the  incense  used, 
in  remembrance  of  the  spices  and  ointments  employed 
for  the  buried  Saviour.  After  the  blessing,  every  mem- 
ber of  the  family  throws  a  handful  of  earth  into  the 
grave.  There  are  many  places  in  Russia  where  a  little 
ladder  is  set  up  by  the  side  of  the  grave  when  the 
coffin  is  lowered  into  it,  to  assist  the  soul  in  its  ascent  to 
heaven. 

Meanwhile  preparations  have  been  made  for  the 
funeral  feast  at  the  house,  for  the  guests  in  the  principal 
chamber,  for  the  beggars  (those  beggars  who  have  regu- 
larly received  alms  from  the  family)  in  the  outhouse. 
The  latter  are  treated  as  kindly-welcomed  guests,  and 
are  waited  on  by  the  family.  The  feast  is  interspersed 
with  prayers,  especially  of  "  Everlasting  Remembrance," 
which  is  repeated  in  the  company  dinner  afterwards  amid 
much  weeping  of  the  mourners.  The  funeral  feast  was 
originally  called  trizna  :  it  was  to  such  a  feast  that  Olga 
summoned  the  Drevlians  upon  the  murder  of  her  husband 
Igor,  to  call  upon  them  to  avenge  his  murder. 

But  even  now  the  melancholy  services  are  by  no  means 
over. 

"  People  whose  circumstances  permit  it  have  evening-matins  and 
mass  performed  every  day  for  forty  days  after  the  death  has  taken 


RECOLLECTION' DAYS.  331 

place,  and  distribute  trifling  alms  to  the  beggars  each  time.  Besides 
this,  special  requiems  are  sung  on  the  ninth,  twentieth,  and  fortieth 
days  over  the  grave,  and  the  priests  are  generally  entertained  as  on 
the  day  of  the  funeral.  At  any  rate,  they  are  invited  to  the  fortieth 
day.  On  the  two  first  occasions  a  '  lunch  '  (which  consists  of  as 
good  a  dinner  as  you  could  wish  to  eat,  only  without  soup)  is 
prepared  for  them.  On  the  fortieth  day  the  funeral  is  almost  acted 
over  again. 

Immediately  on  return  from  church  on  all  these  occasions,  and  on 
the  name's  day  and  anniversary  of  the  death  of  the  deceased,  the 
family  eat  a  spoonful  of  what  is  called  koutia  ;  it  is  boiled  rice  and 
raisins,  sweetened  with  honey.  They  take  it  to  church  in  a  sugar- 
basin  or  butter-dish,  and  place  it,  with  a  taper  stuck  to  it,  on  the  little 
black  maloy,  before  which  requiems  are  sung.  This  is  repeated  at 
every  requiem,  and  is  done  '  in  remembrance  '  of  the  deceased.  The 
custom  is  thus  explained  by  Bishop  Benjamin  :  '  The  rice  (or  as  in 
ancient  times  ordained,  wheat-grain),  typified  the  deceased  Christian, 
who  will  hereafter  rise  again  like  the  buried  seed  (John  xii.  24).  The 
honey  implies  that  on  resurrection  a  sweet  and  delightful  existence 
awaits  us  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  raisins,  dried  up  as  they 
now  are,  will,  on  coming  up,  be  beautiful  and  lovely,  as  the  glorified 
Christian  will  be  (i  Cor.  xv.  43,  44).'  " — //.  C.  Romanoff. 

The  Monday  week  after  Easter  Day  (called  -Pomina- 
telnui  ponyedelnik,  or  "  Recollection  Monday ")  and 
Saturday  after  Ascension  Day  are  devoted  by  the  Rus- 
sians to  the  memory  of  the  dead  and  of  their  parents  in 
particular,  and  nearly  answer  to  All  Souls'  Day  in  France. 
On  this  occasion  alms  are  given  profusely  to  the  beggars, 
with  injunctions  to  pray  for  the  dead  byname.  On  such 
days  the  beggars  ask  alms  "  for  your  parents'  sakes,"  and 
receive  eggs  or  cakes  from  the  poor  who  have  no  money 
to  give.  The  scene  in  the  cemeteries  at  such  times  is  a 
most  strange  one,  as  the  people  fling  themselves  on  the 
graves,  with  sobs,  shrieks,  howls,  and  outcries  of  endear- 
ment to  those  lying  below,  shedding  torrents  of  tears, 
which,  however,  are  dried  as  soon  as  the  performance  is 
over.  A  requiem  is  said  at  the  different  graves  by  a 
priest,  after  which  the  poorer  classes  remain  to  "  com- 
memorate their  departed  by  a  little  banquet,  laying  a 
tablecloth  on  the  grave  and  covering  it  with  gayly-painted 
eggs,  cakes,  curd-tarts,  and  vodki,  which  they  drink 
to  the  memory  of  their  lost  one,  with  '  May  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  be  his  !  ' '  In  the  midst  of  the  loaf 
which  forms  the  center  of  the  feast,  a  lighted  taper  is 
always  stuck. 


332  STUDIES  Itf  RUSSIA. 

"  A  Flemish  pencil  might  produce  the  strangest  picture  in  the  world 
by  a  faithful  representation  of  this  oddly-furnished  banquet,  particu- 
larly as  the  taste  of  the  purveyors  varies  considerably.  Every  one  has 
his  loaf  of  a  different  form  from  the  rest  ;  one  has  added  a  dish  of  rice 
and  plums,  another  a  pot  of  honey,  and  a  third  some  other  dish,  ac- 
cording to  his  means.  On  every  loaf  a  little  book  is  laid.  In  one  I 
found  written  on  one  page,  '  This  book  belongs  to  Anne  Timofey- 
evna '  (Anne,  Timotheus'  daughter),  and  on  the  next  page,  '  This  book 
is  inscribed  to  the  memory  of  my  dear  father,  Feodor  Paulovitch,  and 
my  good  mother,  Elizabeth  Petrovna.'  On  a  third  stood  the  names 
of  Gregor,  Sergei,  and  Maria.  They  call  these  books  '  Pominatelnui 
knigi,'  or  Books  of  Remembrance. 

"After  the  usual  mass,  the  priests  approach  the  strangely-loaded 
tables  and  sing  prayers  for  the  dead,  swinging  censers  all  the  while. 
They  turn  over  the  leaves  of  the  before-mentioned  books,  and  intro- 
duce the  names  found  there  in  the  prayer." — Kohl. 

On  the  Saturday  nearest  to  October  26,  another  requi- 
em has  been  observed  in  Russia  for  centuries  in  memory 
of  those  who  fell  at  the  Battle  of  the  Kulikovo  in  1380, 
when  the  courage  of  Prince  Dmitri  and  the  prayers  of 
St.  Sergius  gained  a  signal  victory  over  the  Tartars. 
This  festival  is  called  Dmitriefskaya  Subbota,  Dmitri's 
Saturday. 

"  If  at  that  time  a  thaw  follows  the  first  frosts  of  winter,  the  people 
say,  Roditeli  otdokhnut,  '  the  Fathers  enjoy  repose,'  for  they 
hold  that  the  dead  suffer  from  cold,  as  well  as  from  hunger,  in  the 
grave. 

' '  On  the  day  of  the  commemoration  the  peasants  attend  a  church 
service,  and  afterwards  they  go  out  to  the  graves  of  their  friends  and 
there  institute  a  feast,  lauding,  amidst  many  tears,  the  virtues  and 
good  qualities  of  the  dead,  and  then  drinking  to  their  eternal  rest. 
So  important  a  feature  in  the  ceremony  is  this  drinking,  that  it  has 
given  rise  to  a  proverb,  '  One  begins  for  the  repose  of  the  dead,  and 
one  goes  on  for  one's  own  pleasure.'  It  is  customary  on  such  occa- 
sions to  hand  over  a  portion  of  the  articles  provided  for  the  feast 
to  the  officiating  ecclesiastics  and  their  assistants,  a  fact  to  which 
allusion  is  made  in  the  popular  saying,  '  It  is  not  always  Dmitri's 
Saturday  with  priestly  children.' " — Ralston,  "  Songs  of  the  Russian 
People" 

In  many  country  villages  the  custom  of  "feeding  the 
dead  "  still  prevails.  This  is  to  prevent  ghosts  from  return- 
ing. People  place  an  abundant  meal  on  the  graves  of  their 
dead,  and  leave  it  there,  begging  them  to  be  satisfied  with 
that  :  dogs  eat  it  up  at  night. 

Through  a  great  part  of  the  year  the  Russian  peasant 


FASTS.  333 

is  prevented  by  the  fasts  of  the  Church  from  accept- 
ing the  advantages  which  the  seasons,  the  soil,  and  his 
labor  permit  him.  He  must  fast  entirely  during  the  seven 
weeks  of  Lent,  for  two  or  three  weeks  in  June,  from  the 
beginning  of  November  till  Christmas,  and  on  all  Wednes- 
days and  Fridays  throughout  the  year. 

"  They  be  great  offerers  of  candles,  and  sometimes  of  money,  which 
wee  call  in  England,  souls  pense,  with  more  ceremonies  than  I  am 
able  to  declare.  They  have  foure  Lents  in  the  yeare,  whereof  our 
Lent  is  the  greatest.  Looke,  as  we  do  begin  on  the  Wednesday,  so 
they  doe  on  the  Monday  before  :  and  the  weeke  before  that  they  call 
the  Butter  weeke  :  and  in  that  weeke  they  eate  nothing  but  butter  and 
milke.  Howbeit,  I  beleeue  there  bee  in  no  other  countrey  the  like 
people  for  drunkennesse.  The  next  Lent  is  called  St.  Peter's  Lent, 
and  beginneth  alwayes  the  Munday  next  after  Trinitie  Sunday,  and 
endeth  on  St.  Peter's  euen.  If  they  should  breake  that  fast,  their 
beliefe  is  that  they  should  not  come  in  at  heauen  gates.  The  third 
Lent  beginneth  fifteen  dayes  before  the  later  Ladey  day,  and  endeth 
on  our  Lady  Eeuen.  The  fourth  Lent  beginneth  on  St.  Martin's  day, 
and  endeth  on  Christmas  Eeuen  :  which  Lent  is  fasted  for  St.  Philip, 
St.  Peter,  St.  Nicholas,  and  St.  Clement.  For  they  foure  be  the 
principal!  and  greatest  saints  in  that  counlrey." — Richard  Chanceleur, 
1553- 

"  If  the  church  would  direct  her  maternal  solicitude  to  the  peasant's 
drinking,  and  leave  him  to  eat  what  he  pleases,  she  might  exercise  a 
beneficial  influence  on  his  material  and  moral  welfare." — D.  Mac- 
kenzie Wallace,  ' '  Russia. " 

If  travelers  give  poor  men  a  part  of  their  dinner  in 
Lent,  they  will  refuse  it  shuddering,  and  snatching  the 
forbidden  foorl  out  of  their  children's  hands,  will  fling  it 
to  their  dogs  ;  though  the  moment  "  Christ  has  risen  " 
has  passed  from  the  lips  of  the  archbishop,  they  are  ready 
to  make  up  in  drunkenness  and  gluttony,  in  proportion 
as  they  have  fasted  before.  Even  in  the  wickedest  Rus- 
sian peasant  the  superstition  regarding  fasting  is  kept 
alive.  Two  men  once  murdered  a  traveler  for  the  sake 
of  his  provision,  but  when  the  deed  was  done  they  found 
it  was  only  meat,  and  they  threw  it  away,  because  it  was 
Lent. 

Fortunately  the  great  fast  occurs  just  when  the  frozen 
provisions  of  the  lower  orders  are  exhausted,  and,  while 
it  lasts,  they  have  time  to  procure,  kill,  and  store  their  fresh 
supplies.  The  night  before  Easter  every  market  and 
shop  is  crowded,  and  every  peasant's  arms  are  full. 


334  S  7^  U DIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

In  the  middle  of  Lent  many  of  the  peasants  celebrate 
a  little  festival  in  honor  of  spring.  About  the  same  time 
occurs  the  curious  custom  called  the  "  Christening  of  the 
Cuckoos,"  which,  coupled  with  the  frequent  representa- 
tion of  the  soul  as  a  bird,  probably  has  reference  to  chil- 
dren who  die  unbaptized,  and  are  therefore  supposed  to 
be  perpetually  flying  wailing  through  the  air.  Little 
figures  of  a  bird,  made  of  grass  or  flowers,  are  hung  with 
crosses  and  suspended  to  a  bough,  and  girls  meet  and 
kiss  beneath  them,  becoming  by  this  ceremony  "  gossips  " 
for  life,  as  if  at  a  christening  of  a  child  they  had  become 
united  by  the  tie  of  co-godmothership.1  When  Palm 
Sunday  arrives,  those  who  sleep  so  late  as  to  be  prevented 
from  attending  early  mass,  are  flogged  with  palm-branches, 
a  discipline  in  which  boys  and  girls  are  so  eager,  that 
they  lie  awake  half  the  night  thinking  of  it,  and  as  soon 
as  day  breaks,  begin  to  run  about  in  bands  in  search  of 
the  sleepers  whom  they  punish,  while  singing  :— 

"  Verba  biot  ! 
Biot  da  floss  ; 
Ye  ne  bin  ; 
Verba  biot  !  "  2 

This  custom  prevails  throughout  Russia,  and  the 
imperial  children  exercise  the  privilege  as  eagerly  as 
those  of  lower  rank.3 

On  the  Saturday  before  Easter  all  the  pomp  of  divine 
service — the  lights,  bells,  singing,  etc. — is  laid  aside. 
The  people,  who  are  half-starved  by  fasting,  having  often 
had  literally  nothing  to  eat  for  three  days,  sink  down  in 
utter  exhaustion  from  the  endless  kneeling,  or  wearisome- 
ness  of  the  long  readings.  The  churches  are  darkened, 
and  no  priest  shows  himself  upon  Saturday  evening  before 
midnight.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  simple  and  touching 
faith  of  the  Russian  people  that,  throughout  this  time  of 
utter  exhaustion,  the  reading  of  the  Gospel  never  ceases. 
One  peasant  after  another,  if  he  can  only  just  read,  will 
light  his  taper,  and,  taking  his  place  at  the  desk  with  the 
open  Bible,  will  continue  to  spell  out  the  words  till  some 

i  Ralston,  Songs  of  the  Russian  People. 

•2  The  rod  strikes  and  strikes  to  weeping.     I  strike  thee  not :  the  rod  strikes, 

3    Kohl. 


THE  BENEDICTION  OF  THE  FOOD.  335 

one  else  comes  to  release  him.1  Certainly  the  Easter 
ceremony  to  which  exhausted  nature  must  most  look  for- 
ward in  Russia,  is  the  benediction  of  the  food,  which, 
especially  in  Moscow,  is  one  of  the  most  curious  sights  a 
stranger  can  witness.  The  Easter  resurrection  has  just 
been  announced  to  the  people,  when — 

"  Amid  all  the  tumult,  a  procession  headed  by  the  priests,  all  bear- 
ing tapers  and  torches,  passes  round  the  church,  and  then  the  last 
ceremony,  the  blessing  of  the  food,  takes  place  about  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  The  spectacle  in  the  church  is  most  extraordinary. 
The  people  range  all  the  dishes  in  long  rows  through  the  whole  church, 
/caving  space  enough  between  the  rows  for  the  priests  to  pass,  till  the 
increasing  numbers  compel  them  to  form  the  lines  without  the  church, 
and  even  a  good  way  round.  The  huge,  oddly-shaped  loaves,  called 
Kulitshe,  the  towers  of  white  cheese,  into  which  I  know  not  how  many 
colored  leaves  of  spice  are  interwoven,  the  former  decorated  with  flow- 
ers, the  latter  bearing  a  burning  wax-taper  on  its  summit :  the  heaps 
of  red  colored  eggs,  lumps  of  sugar,  pots  of  honey,  plates  of  preserved 
fruit,  all  these  painted,  illuminated,  many-colored,  strange-looking 
eatables,  and  collected  in  such  quantities,  have  so  curious  an  effect 
that  one  can  not  help  supposing  the  important  ceremonies  are  to  end 
at  last  in  child's  play  ;  one  can  not  help  looking  into  the  face  of  the 
reverend  goodies  and  white-bearded  fathers,  to  see  whether  they  are 
not  masked  children  who  will  at  last  throw  off  their  disguise,  and  in 
the  midst  of  all  their  flowers  and  fruits,  end  with  a  dance  in  honor  of 
Flora  and  Pomona.  It  is  not  necessary  to  observe  them  long,  how- 
ever, to  become  convinced  that  these  good  child-like  people  are  quite 
serious  in  their  proceedings.  As  the  priest  advances,  sprinkling  to  the 
right  and  left,  and  pronouncing  his  blessing,  while  his  attendant  keeps 
up  a  constant  chant,  the  people  press  closer  and  closer,  crossing  them- 
selves and  keeping  a  constant  watch  that  their  flowers  and  food  get 
their  due  share  of  the  purifying  water.  "  Batiushka,"  is  heard  here 
and  there,  "  sdes  moi  pashka  "  (Father,  dear,  my  Easter  dish  has  got 
none).  Breathless  with  haste,  others  come  running  up,  and  as  they 
untie  the  cloth  containing  their  dishes,  supplicate  a  moment's  delay 
from  the  priest,  who  is  generally  good-natured  enough  to  comply. 

"To  be  thoroughly  national,  two  dishes  are  indispensable  at  an 
Easter  breakfast,  pashka  and  kulitsh.  Pashka  is  made  of  curds  beaten 
hard,  and  served  in  a  pyramidal  form  ;  the  kulitsh  is  a  thick,  round, 
cylindrically-shaped  white  loaf,  sometimes  made  with  a  multitude  of 
little  kulitshi  sticking  upon  it,  like  young  oysters  on  the  back  of  an  old 
one,  with  plums,  consecrated  palm-twigs,  etc.,  which  latter  always 
project  a  little  from  the  crust.  Both  must  be  decorated  with  flowers 
and  wax-lights  ;  and  if,  in  addition  to  these,  a  hard  egg  and  a  dram 
be  swallowed,  the  common  Easter  breakfast  of  a  Russian  of  the  lower 
class  has  been  taken,  and  you  may  go  to  sleep  for  some  hours  with  a 
good  conscience  wherewith  to  begin  the  enjoyment  of  the  Easter  fes- 
tivities. " — Kohl. 

i  Ibid. 


33^  STUDIES  Itf  RUSSIA. 

On  Easter  Monday,  paschal  eggs  are  distributed  and 
all  business  is  laid  aside. 

Between  Easter  and  Ascension  Day  there  are  few 
Russian  peasants  who  will  refuse  hospitality  to  any  way- 
farer, for  at  that  time  Christ  and  his  apostles  are  sup- 
posed to  be  wandering,  and  angels  might  be  repulsed 
unawares.  Our  Lord  himself  is  believed  to  wander  some- 
times disguised  as  a  beggar. 

"  In  the  story  of  '  Christ's  Brother,'  a  young  man — whose  father, 
on  his  deathbed,  had  charged  him  not  to  forget  the  poor — goes  to 
church  on  Easter  Day,  having  provided  himself  with  red  eggs  to  give 
to  the  beggars  with  whom  he  should  exchange  the  paschal  greeting. 
After  exhausting  his  stock  of  presents,  he  finds  that  there  remains  one 
beggar  of  miserable  appearance  to  whom  he  has  nothing  to  offer,  so  he 
takes  him  home  to  dinner.  After  the  meal,  the  beggar  exchanges 
crosses  with  his  host,  who  thus  becomes  his  'brother  of  the  cross,' 
giving  him  a  cross  which  blazes  like  fire,  and  invites  him  to  pay  him  a 
visit  on  the  following  Tuesday.  To  an  inquiry  about  the  way,  he 
replies,  '  You  have  only  to  go  along  yonder  path,  and  say  "Grant 
Thy  blessing,  O  Lord  !  "  and  you  will  come  to  where  I  am.'  .  .  .  The 
young  man  did  as  he  was  told,  and  at  the  end  of  his  journey  finds  the 
aged  mendicant  who  had  adopted  him  as  his  brother,  and  recognizes 
him  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself." — Ralston  (from  Afanasief}, 
' '  Russian  Folk-  Tales. " 

Friday  is  a  wasted  day  in  most  Russian  villages. 

"  The  Russian  name  for  that  day,  Pyatnitsa,  has  no  such  mytho- 
logical significance  as  have  our  own  Friday  or  the  French  Vendredi  : 
but  the  day  was  undoubtedly  consecrated  by  the  old  Slavonians  to  some 
goddess  akin  to  Venus  or  Freyja,  and  her  worship  in  ancient  times 
accounts  for  the  superstitions  now  connected  with  the  name  of  Friday. 
According  to  Afanasief,  the  Carinthian  name  for  the  day,  Sibne 
dan,  is  a  clear  proof  that  it  was  once  holy  to  Siva,  the  Lithuanian 
Seewa,  the  Slavonic  goddess  answering  to  Ceres.  In  Christian  times 
the  personality  of  the  goddess  (by  whatever  name  she  may  have  been 
known)  to  whom  Friday  was  consecrated,  became  merged  in  that  of 
St.  Prascovia,  and  she  is  now  frequently  addressed  by  the  compound 
name  of  '  Mother  Pyatnitsa-Prascovia.'  As  she  is  supposed  to  wander 
about  the  houses  of  the  peasants  on  her  holy  days,  and  to  be  offended 
at  certain  kinds  of  work  going  on,  they  are  (or  at  least  they  used  to  be) 
frequently  suspended  on  Fridays.  It  is  a  sin,  says  a  time-honored 
tradition,  for  a  woman  to  sew,  or  spin,  or  weave,  or  buck  linen  on  a 
Friday,  and  similarly  for  a  man  to  plait  bast  shoes,  twine  cord,  and 
the  like.  Spinning  and  weaving  are  especially  obnoxious  to  '  Mother 
Friday,'  for  the  dust  and  refuse  thus  produced  injure  her  eyes.  When 
this  takes  place,  she  revenges  herself  by  plagues  of  sore  eyes,  whitlows, 
and  agnails.  In  so'me  places  the  villagers  go  to  bed  early  on  Friday 
evening,  believing  that  St.  Pyatnitsa  will  punish  all  whom  she  finds 


BIELO-OZERO.  $3? 

awake  when  she  roams  through  the  cottage.  In  others  they  sweep 
the  floors  every  Thursday  evening,  that  she  may  not  be  annoyed  by 
dust  or  the  like  when  she  comes  next  day.  Sometimes,  however,  she 
has  been  seen,  says  the  popular  voice,  '  all  pricked  with  the  needles 
and  pierced  by  the  spindles '  of  the  careless  women  who  sewed  and 
spun  on  the  day  they  ought  to  have  kept  holy  in  her  honor.  As  for 
any  work  begun  on  Friday,  it  is  sure  to  go  wrong. 

"  There  was  once  a  certain  woman  who  did  not  pay  due  reverence 
to  Mother  Friday,  but  set  to  work  onadistaff-fulof  flax,  combing  and 
whirling  it.  She  span  away  till  dinner  time,  then  suddenly  sleep  fell 
on  her — such  a  deep  sleep  !  And  when  she  had  gone  to  sleep,  sud- 
denly the  door  opened  and  in  came  Mother  Friday,  before  the  eyes  of 
all  who  were  there,  clad  in  a  white  dress,  and  in  such  a  rage  !  And  she 
went  straight  to  the  woman  who  had  been  spinning,  scooped  up  from 
the  floor  a  handful  of  the  dust  that  had  fallen  out  of  the  flax,  and  began 
stuffing  and  stuffing  that  woman's  eyes  full  of  it  !  And  when  she  had 
stuffed  them  full,  she  went  off  in  a  rage — disappeared  without  saying 
a  word, 

"When  the  woman  awoke,  she  began  squalling  at  the  top  of  her 
voice  about  her  eyes,  but  couldn't  tell  what  was  the  matter  with  them. 
The  other  women,  who  had  been  terribly  frightened,  began  to  cry 
out  : 

"  '  Oh,  you  wretch,  you  !  you've  brought  a  terrible  punishment  on 
yourself  from  Mother  Friday.' 

' '  And  they  told  her  all  that  had  taken  place.  She  listened  to  it  all, 
and  then  began  imploring  : 

'  '  Mother  Friday,  forgive  me  !  pardon  me,  the  guilty  one  !  I'll 
offer  thee  a  taper,  and  I'll  never  let  friend  or  foe  dishonor  thee, 
Mother  !  ' 

"  Well,  what  do  you  think?  During  the  night,  back  came  Mother 
Friday  and  took  the  dust  out  of  that  woman's  eyes,  so  that  she  was 
able  to  get  about  again.  It's  a  great  sin  to  dishonor  Mother  Friday 
— combing  and  spinning  flax,  forsooth  !  " — Ralston  (fro  m  Afanasief), 
"  Russian  Folk-  " 


The  student  of  Russian  history  will  not  be  content  with 
visiting  the  group  of  monasteries  near  Moscow,  but  the 
immense  tracts  of  country  to  be  traversed  make  further 
historic  pilgrimages  of  great  rarity.  "  Les  distances  voila 
le  fleau  de  la  Russie,"  was  a  saying  of  the  Emperor 
Nicholas. 

The  monastery  of  greatest  interest  besides  those  already 
noticed  is  that  of  St.  Cyril  at  Bielo-ozero,  "  the  White 
Lake,"  to  which  the  nearest  point  of  railway  is  Vologda. 
It  is  still  a  monastery  of  the  first  class,  or  rather  two 
monasteries  in  one,  the  Greater,  and  the  (Ivanofsky  or) 
Lesser.  Two  strong  walls,  with  lofty  towers,  surround 


338  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA . 

the  monasteries,  the  inner  being  the  Lesser,  while  the 
Greater,  which  of  itself  has  nine  stone  churches,  occupies 
the  space  between  the  first  and  second  wall.  No  religious 
institution  in  the  empire  surpasses  this  in  the  richness  of 
its  vestments.  It  has  also  an  armory,  and  on  its  outer 
towers  fifty  cannon  are  mounted. 

This  is  the  desolate  spot  to  which  so  many  illustrious 
persons  have  been  exiled,  including  Nikon,  and  Martha 
Romanoff,  mother  of  the  Tsar  Michael.  Bielo-ozero 
appears  in  every  period  of  Russian  history,  from  the  time 
of  its  foundation  by  St.  Cyril  of  Simonof,  the  companion 
and  friend  of  St.  Sergius,  and  it  became  the  parent  house 
of  the  island  monastery  of  Solovetsky  (most  easily  reached 
from  Archangel),  where  Nikon  lived  as  a  monk. 

"  Thirsting  after  a  retreat  of  absolute  quiet,  Cyril  secluded  himself 
on  the  silent  shores  of  the  White  Lake  ;  but  such  a  light  as  his  could 
not  remain  hid  under  a  bushel  ;  his  monastery  grew  and  nourished, 
even  like  that  of  .St.  Sergius,  and  became  an  object  of  deepest  rev- 
erence to  the  Tsars,  especially  to  Ivan  the  Terrible.  In  its  turn  it 
became  the  seed-bed  of  other  houses,  which  sprang  up  around  it.  both 
near  and  far  off.  From  the  white  waters  of  its  lake,  St.  Sabbatius 
carried  the  germ  of  monasticism  to  the  gray  waves  of  the  Northern 
Ocean  ;  there,  in  the  uninhabited  islands  of  the  White  Sea,  his  fel- 
low-laborer Germanus,  and  his  successor  St.  Zosimus,  laid  the  found- 
ations of  the  Solovetsky  Lavra,  which  has  stood  as  a  glorious  bound- 
ary of  our  country  to  the  North,  and  illuminated  all  the  coasts  of  the 
sea  with  the  light  of  Christianity." — Moiiravicff. 

Beside  Valdai,  Valamo,  and  Yurieff,  near  Novogorod, 
which  have  been  already  mentioned,  the  other  monas- 
teries of  greatest  importance  are  the  Pecherskoe  (cata- 
comb) monastery,  near  Pskoff,  in  the  north,  and  the 
all-famous  Pecherskoe  monastery  of  Kieff,  in  the 
south. 

In  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great  there  were  five  hund- 
red and  fifty-seven  monasteries  and  convents  in  Russia, 
three  of  which — the  Abramief  at  Rostoff,  the  Vydubitsky 
at  Kieff,  and  the  Peryn  at  Novogorod — were  founded  at 
the  end  of  the  tenth  century. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

KIEFF. 

RAILWAY  traveling  on  most  of  the  great  Russian 
lines  is  by  no  means  as  luxurious  as  is  usually 
imagined.  Nothing  can  look  more  comfortable  than  the 
little  compartments  of  the  sleeping*cars,  but  the  motion 
of  the  long  unwieldy  carriages  is  terrific  :  a  gentle  wavy 
motion  like  that  of  a  caterpillar,  which  in  a  few  hours 
often  produces  the  same  results  as  a  boat  in  a  heavy 
swell  at  sea.  Besides,  every  thing  depends  upon  your 
companion,  who  is  of  much  more  consequence  than  in 
the  mixed  society  of  a  large  carriage  in  other  countries. 
"  I  guess,  stranger,  that  you  will  not  want  to  have  the 
window  open  this  journey,  because  I  will  not  allow  it  ;  " 
said  an  American,  on  becoming  the  writer's  companion 
for  a  journey  of  fifty-two  hours,  through  which  time  of 
suffocating  misery  no  entreaties  did  induce  him  to  allow 
it.  Then  there  are  no  non-smoking  (inct  cheruske)  com- 
partments, and  all  the  carriages  stink — no  other  word 
expresses  it — so  horribly  of  stale  smoke  that  lying  down 
upon  the  reeking  cushions  is  an  indescribable  penance, 
while  even  Russian  ladies,  if  such  are  your  companions, 
seldom  fail  to  smoke  cigarette  after  cigarette  of  the 
strongest  tobacco  ;  and  all  night,  as  well  as  all  day,  this 
smoking  continues.  The  pillows  with  which  the  Russians 
always  travel  are  almost  indispensable  on  these  long 
journeys,  and  are  very  useful  at  the  smaller  hotels,  where 
it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  pillow-cases,  sheets,  or 
towels  will  be  supplied  with  the  rooms. 

Quite  a  new  phase  of  country  is  entered  upon  by  those 
who  travel  south  from  Moscow.  Hitherto  all  has  been 
forest,  henceforth  there  is  scarcely  a  tree.  We  enter  now 
upon  the  vast  dreary  plains  which  are  only  a  prolonga- 
tion of  the  Asiatic  plateaux.  Before,  the  desolation  has 


340  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

seemed  intense,  now  it  is  entire.  As  Sterne  remarks, 
"  Nothing  puts  a  writer  of  travels  in  such  difficulty  as 
sending  him  over  an  extensive  plain."  To  journey  many 
leagues  and  say  nothing  might  seem  like  inattention,  but 
to  write  observations  of  no  moment  is  less  pardonable 
than  any  omission.  Vast,  flat  and  monotonous,  such  is 
now  the  character  of  everything. 

' '  Quoiqu'on  me  conduisit  avec  line  grande  rapidite,  il  me  semblait 
que  je  n'avancais  pas,  tant  la  contree  etait  monotone.  Des  plaines  de 
sable,  quelques  forets  de  bouleaux  et  des  villages  a  grande  distance  les 
uns  des  autres,  composes  de  maisons  de  bois,  toutes  taillees  sur  le 
meme  modele,  voila  les  seuls-objets  qui  s'offrissaient  a  mes  regards. 
J'eprouvais  cette  sorte  de  cauchemar  qui  saisit  quelquefois  la  nuit, 
quand  on  croit  marcher  tou jours  et  n'avancer  jamais.  II  me  semblait 
que  ce  pays  etait  1'image  cte  1'espace  infini  et  qu'il  fallait  1'eternite  pour 
le  traverser. " — Madame  de  Stael. 

Russian  authors,  however,  can  almost  always  make  one 
discover  a  kind  of  charm  in  their  native  scenery  : — 

"  He  was  on  his  way,  and  his  tarantass  rolled  rapidly  along  the  by- 
road. A  great  drought  had  prevailed  for  fifteen  days  ;  a  slight  mist 
spread  a  creamy  tint  through  the  atmosphere  and  enveloped  the  distant 
forests,  they  seemed  to  send  forth  a  smell  of  burning  ;  little  dark  clouds 
marked  their  undecided  forms  upon  a  clear  blue  sky  ;  a  strong  wind 
blew  in  dry  gusts  which  did  not  refresh  the  air.  With  his  head  resting 
against  the  cushions  of  the  carriage,  and  his  arms  crossed  upon  his 
breast,  Lavretsky  let  his  glance  wander  over  the  plowed  fields  which 
unfolded  themselves  before  him  like  a  fan,  upon  the  cytisus  which 
seemed  to  fly,  upon  the  crows  and  magpies  which  followed  the  equipage 
as  it  passecl  with  an  eye  stupidly  suspicious,  and  upon  the  long  ditches 
overgrown  with  southernwood,  absinthe,  and  the  wild  service-tree. 
He  regarded  the  horizon,  this  solitude  of  the  steppes,  so  unbroken,  so 
fresh,  so  fertile  ;  this  verdure,  these  long  uplands,  these  hollows  over- 
grown with  bushes  of  dwarf  oak,  these  gray  villages,  these  scraggy 
birch  trees  ;  till  all  this  picture  of  Russian  nature,  which  he  had  not 
seen  for  so  long,  awakened  feelings  at  once  sweet  and  sad  in  his 
heart." — Tourgue"neff,  "A  Retreat  of  Gentlefolks." 

There  are  said  to  be  usually  fifteen  inhabitants  to  every 
square  kilometer  in  European  Russia  ;  to  the  same  propor- 
tion of  land  in  England  there  would  be  a  hundred  and  four- 
teen. At  long  intervals  we  see  a  town,  but  there  are  only 
four  towns  in  Russia,  except  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow, 
which  have  as  many  as  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants. 
The  first  important  place  of  those  we  pass  through  is 
Tula,  which  is  a  zavbd,  or  manufacturing  town,  where 


KURSK.  34i 

small  objects  in  iron  and  steel  are  sold  at  the  station. 
The  great  river  Don,  which  is  1,300  miles  in  length,  rises 
near  this  in  Lake  Ivanozero,  whence  the  name  of  Don 
Ivanovitch,  which  occurs  so  often  in  Russian  folk  lore. 

At  Kursk,  the  cathedral  in  the  monastery  contains  a 
famous  icon,  said  to  have  been  found  in  a  wood  in  1295, 
which  has  become  a  great  object  of  pilgrimage.  Near 
the  towns  the  foregrounds  of  the  scenery  are  often  pretty, 
even  idyllic,  the  backgrounds  flat,  wild,  and  boundless. 

Turning  westward  from  Kursk  (the  direct  line  goes 
through  South  Russia  to  the  Crimea),  the  railway  to 
Kieff  soon  passes  out  of  Great  into  Little  Russia,  and 
enters  upon  the  steppes  of  the  Ukraine,  the  home  of  the 
semi-nomadic  Cossacks. 

"  The  steppe  countries  of  European  Russia  form  a  connected  extent 
of  land  of  453,600  square  miles.  On  this  enormous  space  there  are 
only  thin  strips  of  wood  upon  the  banks  of  some  of  the  streams,  such 
as  the  Bug,  Dnieper,  Volga,  Akhtuba,  etc.,  constituting  certainly  not 
more  than  the  two  hundredth  part  of  the  whole  territory.  To  the 
traveler  coming  from  the  north  the  steppe  becomes  gradually  percep- 
tible by  the  forests  appearing  more  and  more  in  isolated  patches,  and 
the  grass  plains  growing  larger  in  extent.  All  at  once  the  wood  ceases 
entirely,  not  a  bush  is  to  be  seen,  and  the  steppe  stretches  out  in  its 
immensity  before  us.  On  the  margin  of  the  steppes  the  roots  and 
stumps  of  trees  are  occasionally  found  in  the  ground,  showing  that  in 
former  times  the  forest  extended  further,  but  in  a  short  time  these 
cease,  and  there  is  no  longer  any  trace  of  forest  having  ever  existed. 
On  the  skirts  of  the  forest  also  it  is  evident  that  it  does  not  of  itself 
advance  toward  the  steppe  ;  the  seed  never  forms  new  bushes.  This 
does  not  arise  from  the  soil  not  receiving  the  seed  from  the  wood,  or 
from  the  latter  not  striking  root,  but  because  the  trees  are  displaced  by 
the  grass  vegetation. 

"  The  whole  plant-world  presents  a  struggle  for  the  dominion  of  the 
soil  :  thus  the  cryptogams  are  displaced  by  the  grasses,  the  latter  by 
the  heath  ;  bushes  give  place  to  flowers,  one  kind  of  tree  to  another, 
and  in  turn  the  trees,  the  giants  of  their  empire,  to  the  grasses,  the 
dwarfs.  In  the  steppes  near  the  Caucasus,  on  the  Kuban  and  Terek, 
the  vegetation  of  annual  plants,  which  here  cover  the  ground  twice  a 
year,  is  of  almost  incredible  luxuriance.  The  weeds  grow  ten,  twenty, 
thirty  feet  in  height,  imitating  and  obstructing  the  growth  of  trees, 
being  used  as  fuel  by  the  people.  The  thick  grass  vegetation,  five  to 
seven  feet  high,  on  the  margins  of  all  the  forests  north  of  the  chalk 
steppes,  has  the  same  effect.  Every  spring  this  entire  mass  of  plants 
springs  up  with  such  vigor,  and  spreads  with  such  rapidity,  that  any 
seed  of  a  tree  falling  amongst  it  takes  years  to  attain  even  the  height  of 
the  lowest  grasses,  and  is  choked  in  its  first  growth." — Haxthausen, 
"  The  Russian  Empire" 


342  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

In  winter  these  steppes  are  traversed  by  vast  flocks  of 
wolves,  the  terror  of  sledge  travelers. 

"  The  wolf-chase  on  the  steppes  is  quite  peculiar  in  its  way.  A 
thicket  in  which  wolves  are  supposed  to  lie  concealed  is  surrounded 
by  nets.  In  front  of  these  nets  the  hunters  station  themselves  with 
their  fowling-pieces,  and  behind  them  stand  the  peasants  with  spears 
and  pitchforks.  The  drivers  and  dogs  then  enter  the  thicket  to  scare 
the  wolves  into  the  plain.  Those  wolves  that  escape  the  tubes  of  the 
hunters  entangle  themselves  in  the  nets,  when  they  are  speared  and 
pitchforked  by  the  peasants,  and  sometimes  taken  alive.  The  genu- 
ine Cossack  of  the  steppe,  however,  uses  neither  musket  nor  pitch- 
fork, but  mounted  on  his  trusty  steed  depends  only  on  his  well-plaited 
nagaika  or  whip,  with  which  he  rarely  fails  to  cut  down  a  wolf,  as 
with  a  saber." — Kohl. 

Little  Russia  is  still  always  called  the  Ukraine  by  its 
natives,  who  do  not  like  to  acknowledge  it  to  be  smaller 
than  Great  Russia.  Here  is  the  grain-growing  district 
of  the  empire.  From  a  religious  sentiment  the  reaping 
is  usually  begun  by  a  priest.  Much  of  the  wheat  is 
shipped  to  England.  The  country  is  principally  in  the 
hands  of  the  great  landowners  :  Count  Orloff  Davi- 
doff  ^lone  possesses  half  a  million  of  acres.  With  the 
character  of  the  country  that  of  the  people  completely 
changes. 

"  On  oublie  trop  qu'il  y  a  deux  Russies  :  a  Saint-Petersbourg,  une 
Russie  officielle,  feodale,  aristocratique  et  bureaucratique,  semi-alle- 
mande  et  semi-europeenne  ;  et  dans  les  immenses  plaines  du  reste  de 
1'empire,  une  Russie  vetue  de  peau  de  mouton,  immobile  et  pensive 
comme  1'Asie,  son  ai'eule,  muette  et  immuable  dans  son  fatalisme 
apathique  et  sa  raide  orthodoxie,  fidele  a  ses  traditions,  franche- 
ment  russe,  et  subissant  avec  une  resignation  de  bete  le  joug  que  font 
peser  sur  elle  ceux  a  qui  appartiennent  toutes  les  richesses,  tous  les 
privileges,  tous  les  pouvoirs  et  tous  les  droits." — Victor  Tissot, 
'  'fiusses  et  A  llemands. " 

Originally,  the  Cossacks  were  divided  into  the  two 
great  branches  of  Cossacks  of  the  Don  and  of  the 
Dnieper  ;  the  former  of  these  became  incorporated  with 
Russia  as  early  as  the  time  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  but  the 
latter  were  nominally  subject  to  Poland.  Both  divisions, 
from  their  habit  of  kidnapping  Tartar  women,  had  a 
strong  admixture  of  Tartar  blood.1  In  the  middle  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  an  attempt  of  the  King  of 

i  See  Wallace, 


THE  COSSACKS.  343 

Poland  to  enforce  Popery  upon  the  Cossacks,  and  to 
make  their  prince  a  hetman,  delegate  of  his  power, 
roused  the  indignation  of  the  people,  and  they  began  a 
•  war  with  Poland  which  continued  to  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  with  terrible  reprisals  on  both  sides. 
Being  "  left  orphans,  and  seeing  their  country  left  like 
a  widow  after  the  loss  of  a  mighty  husband,  they  held 
out  their  hands  to  one  another  as  brothers."  1  They  first 
sought  refuge  amid  the  wooded  islands  of  the  Dnieper, 
whence  the  name  of  the  rebel  community — Zaporoghian 
Ssieche  ;  Zaporoghian  meaning  "  beyond  the  rapids,"  a 
Ssieche  meaning  a  spot  in  a  forest  where  trees  have  been 
cut  down,  and  a  slaughter  in  the  thick  of  a  fight,  a  name 
inseparable  from  deeds  of  valor  and  cruelty.3  The  Za- 
poroghian Cossacks  lived  by  the  sword  and  had  no  fear 
of  death.  No  woman  was  permitted  to  dwell  in  their 
island  colonies,  and  in  memory  of  their  fallen  no  tears 
were  shed,  but  their  exploits  were  sung  in  triumph. 
Their  bravest  member  was  elected  as  their  chief,  and 
bore  the  title  of  ataman  (quite  different  to  the  hetman, 
or  elective  prince  of  Little  Russia).4  They  were  subdi- 
vided into  koorens  (from  kooren,  to  smoke),  communities 
whose  fires  smoked  and  cooked  in  common,  and  each  of 
these  had  a  koorennoi  ataman,  subordinate  to  the  ataman 
of  the  Ssieche,  and  who  could  be  deposed  at  will,  except 
during  absence  in  war,  when  the  koschevoi  ataman  (chief 
ataman)  had  dictatorial  power.5 

After  they  had  established  their  freedom,  the  Zaporo- 
ghians  united  themselves  with  the  rest  of  the  Cossacks, 
as  the  whole  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Ukraine  were 
henceforth  called,  and  in  1654,  all  Little  Russia  sub- 
mitted to  the  Tsar  Alexis.  But,  to  the  Russian,  the 
very  name  of  Cossack  has  continued  to  be  emblematic 
of  freedom,  and  the  Cossacks  have  always  been  ready  to 
fight  on  the  first  notice  of  their  country  or  their  faith 
being  in  danger.  In  later  times  the  Ssieche  became 
merely  encampments  of  Cossacks,  ready  to  answer  to  the 
call  of  the  hetman  of  Little  Russia.  Peter  the  Great 
treated  the  Cossacks  with  great  severity,  especially  after 

i  Gog61.  2  Porog  signifies  a  rapid  fall,  in  Russian. 

3  Tolstoy  4  Count  Platoff  was  not  a  hetman,  but  an  ataman. 

5  Tolstoy. 


344  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

their  hetman  Mazeppa  joined  Charles  XII.  The  het- 
manship  itself  was  abolished  by  Catherine  II.,  and  in  her 
reign  the  last  Zaporoghians,  under  their  ataman  Nekras- 
soff,  emigrated  to  Turkey,  and  then,  as  the  Ssieche 
finally  ceased  to  exist,  the  romance  of  the  Cossacks 
vanished. 

At  the  present  day  the  Cossacks  are  a  standing  militia, 
living  on  their  own  lands  in  the  south-east  of  Russia. 
They  are  bound  to  maintain  a  fixed  number  of  regiments 
at  their  own  cost,  and  are  governed  by  their  respective 
atamans — of  the  Don,  the  Black  Sea,  the  Caucasus, 
Astrakhan,  Orenburg,  the  Ural,  Siberia,  and  the  trans- 
Baikalian  Cossacks,  who  guard  the  Russian  frontier 
toward  China. 

The  dress  of  a  Cossack,  called  cossakin,  is  a  closely- 
fitting  coat,  fastened  by  hooks  down  the  middle  of  the 
breast.  Strong,  handsome,  and  active,  the  Cossacks  are 
capable  of  great  endurance  of  fatigue  and  privation. 
They  have  a  peculiar  power  of  self-adaptation,  and  are 
perhaps  the  most  valuable  troops  the  Tsar  possesses. 
They  are  even  more  fond  of  spirituous  liquors  than  other 
Russians.  Gogol,  the  especial  author  of  the  Ukraine,  a 
writer  who  could  cause  his  readers  to  laugh  when 
he  laughed  and  weep  when  he  wept,  makes  a  Cossack 
say— 

"  Go,  go,  and  have  every  thing  in  the  house  put  upon  the  table. 
We  do  not  want  pastry,  honey-cakes,  poppy-seed  cakes,  and  all  those 
sweet  nonsenses.  Bring  us  a  whole  roasted  sheep,  give  us  a  buck,  let 
us  have  some  mead  that  is  twenty  years  old,  and  above  all  things, 
plenty  of  brandy  ;  and  let  it  not  be  the  brandy  with  raisins  and  various 
spices,  but  plain,  clean,  corn  brandy,  that  hisses  and  simmers." — 
Tarass  Boolba. 

In  former  days,  when  a  young  Cossack  was  about  to 
leave  the  paternal  dwelling,  all  the  family  would  sit 
down  in  silence  for  a  few  minutes  before  the  departure  ; 
then  they  rose  at  once,  made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and 
the  eldest  person  present  invoked  the  blessing  of  heaven 
upon  the  traveler. 

"  '  Now,  sons,  all  is  ready,  don't  waste  time,'  said  Boolba.  '  Now, 
we  must  all,  like  Christians,  sit  down  before  the  journey.' 

"  Everyone  sat  down,  including  even  the  servants,  who  had  stood 
respectfully  by  the  door. 


THE  KOURGANS.  345 

"  '  Now,  mother,  bless  thy  children  ! '  said  Boolba.  '  Pray  God 
that  they  may  be  brave  in  war,  that  they  preserve  theirhonor  and  hold 
fast  the  faith  of  Christ  ;  otherwise  it  were  better  that  nothing  remained 
of  them  in  the  world.  Go  to  your  mother,  children  ;  the  prayer  of  a 
mother  preserves  one  by  sea  and  land.' 

"  The  tender  mother  embraced  them,  took  two  small  holy  images, 
and  sobbing,  hung  them  round  their  necks. 

"  '  May  the  Holy  Virgin  preserve  you  ;  do  not  forget  your 
mother,  my  sons  :  send  me  word  of  your  welfare. '  She  could  say  no 
more. 

"'Let  us  be  gone  now,  my  children!'  said  Boolba." — Gogol, 
"  Tarass  Boolba." 

The  boundaries  of  communal  lands  among  the  Cos- 
sacks used  to  be  remembered  by  the  whole  population 
walking  along  the  boundary  decided  on,  and  taking  the 
boys  of  the  districts  on  each  side  and  whipping  them 
soundly  upon  it,  that  they  might  be  sure  to  remember 
the  scene  of  their  punishment  as  long  as  they  lived.  But 
if  the  boys,  growing  up  to  manhood,  forgot,  one  of  the 
oldest  inhabitants  was  made  to  swear  on  the  Scriptures 
that  he  would  act  honestly,  and  then  taking  an  icon  in 
his  hand,  to  walk  along  what  he  believed  to  be  the  right 
boundary.  These  customs  existed  till  1850,  when  the 
Government  decided  the  boundaries.  In  later  years  an 
endless  variety  of  nationalities  have  settled  on  the  steppe, 
which  is  partly  owing  to  the  efforts  of  Catherine  II.  to 
encourage  emigration  from  other  countries,  which  have 
been  continued  under  succeeding  sovereigns. 

The  traveler,  in  crossing  the  steppe,  will  be  struck  by 
a  number  of  little  mounds  occurring  at  intervals. 

"  On  the  steppe  small  and  regularly  formed  mounds  constantly 
strike  the  eye.  The  latter  are  occasionally  surrounded  by  roughly  cut 
stone  figures,  which  look  down  like  ghosts  upon  the  silent  desert. 
Sometimes  these  mounds  are  seen  clustered  together  in  large  numbers, 
looking  as  if  they  formed  a  great  cemetery ;  at  other  times  isolated 
mounds  extend  in  line  along  the  heights,  till  they  disappear  altogether, 
or  rise  up  only  at  distant  intervals  in  the  steppe.  The  country  over 
which  the  mounds  are  scattered  comprises  more  than  600,000  square 
miles.  The  statues  are  made  of  a  stone  which  is  not  found  nearer 
than  four  hundred  miles  from  the  spots  where  they  have  been  erected  ; 
and  this  is  not  the  case  with  regard  to  one  statue  only,  but  to  thou- 
sands. 

"  In  the  Government  of  Tver,  in  the  north  of  Russia,  these  tumuli 
are  called  Sopki,  Zapadni,  Koptzi  :  throughout  the  south  of  Russia 
they  have  the  name  of  Kurgani,  but  among  the  Little  Russians 
that  also  of  Mogili,  The  word  Kurgan  is  said  to  be  derived  from 


346  STUDIES  IN  R  USSIA. 

the  Tartar  gur,  kyr,  kur,  signifying  a  grave  or  hill,  and  khani,  a 
house — literally  a  grave-house.  Mogila,  Mohila,  is  said  to  be  derived 
from  the  Arabic,  and  to  signify  a  hill,  or  resting-place.  The  statues 
on  the  Kurgans  have  no  peculiar  name  ;  the  people  call  them  Babas, 
old  women  or  mothers. 

"  The  mounds  are  innumerable,  and  there  are  many  thousand  stat- 
ues still  existing,  while  thousands  have  probably  been  destroyed,  as 
any  trace  of  religious  veneration  for  them  has  disappeared.  The 
statues  evidently  belong  to  various  peoples,  exhibiting  the  most  dissim- 
ilar physiognomies,  dress  and  ornaments  :  they  are  moreover  not  of 
one  and  the  same  age.  It  is  most  likely  that  all  the  various  peoples 
who  have  successfully  traversed  and  inhabited  the  steppe,  adopted  the 
custom  of  erecting  these  tumuli,  which  probably  originated  in  some 
religious  worship  ;  and  thus  thousands  of  years  may  have  elapsed 
between  the  erection  of  the  most  ancient  and  the  most  recent  monu- 
ments. The  first  writer  hitherto  known  to  mention  them  is  Ammianus 
Marcellinus,  who  in  his  description  of  the  Huns,  says  :  '  They  have 
singular  forms,  and  might  be  mistaken  for  beasts  walking  upon  two 
legs,  or  for  those  roughly  hewn  columns  in  human  form  which  are 
seen  on  the  shores  of  the  Pontus  Euxinus. '" — Haxthausen,  "  The 
Russian  Empire. " 

4 '  It  is  silent  where  these  graves  display  their  sad  and  lonely  hillocks  ! 
It  is  gloomy  and  deserted  in  the  tempest-stricken  Ukraine." 

Malczewski. 

In  some  of  the  Kourgans  coffinless  skeletons  have 
been  found  with  vases  of  black  pottery  containing  food 
at  their  feet.  Sometimes  the  skeletons  have  remains  of 
dress,  chiefly  leather.  In  some  of  the  sepulchers  are 
bronze  ornaments.  In  the  graves  of  women,  silver  dia- 
dems and  ornaments  of  crystal  and  pearls  have  been 
found. 

• 

4 '  Les  observations  anthropologiques  s'accordent  ici  avec  les  don- 
nees  de  1'histoire.  qui  nous  montrent  les  Slaves  etablis  en  ce  pays  long- 
temps  avant  1'arrivee  de  Rurik.  Ces  tombeaux  sont  bien  ceux  des 
Slaves  de  ITlmen,  fondateurs  de  Novgorod  la  Grande,  maitres  des 
grands  lacs,  triomphateurs  de  la  Baltique,  creatures  de  tant  de  colon- 
ies dans  les  deserts  du  nord.  .  .  .  On  voit  que  si  Ton  immolait  encore 
sur  le  corps  d'un  guerrier  illustre  quelque  gracieuse  compagne,  on  ne 
brulait  pas  les  corps  :  on  ne  reduisait  en  cendres  que  les  animaux 
offerts  en  sacrifice." — A.  Rambaud,  "Revue  des  Deux  Mondes" 
1874. 

In  the  earlier  part  of  the  summer,  a  Russian  steppe 
possesses  a  luxuriant  beauty  not  unlike  that  of  the  Ro- 
man Campagna. 

"The  further  the  steppe  went,  the  grander  it  became.     At  that  time 


APPROACH  TO  KIEFF.  347 

the  whole  tract  of  land  which  now  forms  New  Russia,  even  as  far  as 
the  coast  of  the  Black  Sea,  was  but  one  green  uninhabited  waste.  No 
plow  ever  furrowed  its  immense  undulating  plains  of  wild  plants  ; 
the  wild  horses  which  herded  there  alone  trampled  them  down. 
Nothing  in  nature  was  more  beautiful  to  look  upon.  The  whole  vast 
steppe  was  a  green  golden  ocean,  of  which  a  million  flowers  of  various 
colors  sprinkled  the  surface.  Here,  through  the  thin,  tall  blades  of 
grass,  the  purple,  blue,  and  violet  corn-flowers  were  to  be  seen  ;  there 
the  pyramidal  head  of  a  yellow  genista  shot  suddenly  up  ;  the  umbrella- 
like  head  of  the  clover  shone  as  spots  of  white  ;  some  ears  of  wheat, 
brought  from  heaven  knows  whence,  ripened  slowly  among  the 
grass.  Beneath  their  thin  stems  partridges  were  fluttering  with  out- 
stretched necks.  The  air  was  filled  with  the  cries  of  a  thousand  dif- 
ferent birds.  Goshawks  remained  motionless  in  the  sky,  poised  on 
their  open  wings,  and  with  eyes  fixed  upon  the  earth.  The  screams 
of  a  flock  of  wild  geese,  which  were  visible  like  a  moving  cloud  on 
one  side  of  the  horizon,  were  re-echoed  by  the  murmurs  from  some 
distant  lake.  A  gull  might  be  seen,  with  measured  flapping  of  its 
wings,  rising  in  the  clouds,  and  bathing  luxuriously  in  the  blue  waves 
of  the  air  ;  behold,  now  it  vanishes  in  the  skies,  only  ever  and  again 
showing  like  a  dark  spot  ;  now  again  it  turns  round,  and  its  wings 
are  gleaming  in  the  sunshine. 

"  O  ye  steppes,  how  beautiful  ye  are  !  " — Gogrfl,  "  Tarass  Boolba" 

It  is  on  the  second  afternoon  after  leaving  Moscow  that 
we  reach  the  glorious  Dnieper,  the  third  river  of  Europe 
in  the  mass  of  its  water,  with  banks  which  from  early 
times  have  been  so  fertile  that  Herodotus  celebrates  it  as 
the  stream  which  after  the  Nile,  has  been  most  useful  to 
mankind.  Beyond  the  Dnieper  rises  a  low  range  of 
brown  hills  covered  with  wood — at  least  they  would  be 
low  in  any  other  country,  but  they  are  high  for  Russia, 
and  so  are  called  Kiev,  "  the  mountain."  It  is  said  that 
St.  Andrew  the  Apostle  of  Greece,  sailing  up  the  Borys- 
thenes,  as  the  Dnieper  was  called  before  the  existence  of 
Russia,  beheld  these  hills  and  exclaimed,  "  Look  upon 
these  heights,  for  they  shall  be  illuminated  by  the  grace 
of  God  ;  there  a  great  city  shall  be  built,  and  shall  raise 
its  many  altars  to  the  Saviour."  *  And  now,  above  the 
fringe  of  brushwood  on  the  hill-tops  rise  the  many  golden 
domes  and  bulbous  spires  of  cathedral  and  convents. 
The  three  towns  which  form  Kieff  are  seen  at  once,  Pe- 
cherskoe  and  its  famous  lavra  ;  then  old  Kieff  with  its 
churches  and  monasteries  ;  then,  on  the  level,  the  later 
Podol,  also  sparkling  with  spires  and  domes.  After  the 

i  Nesto,  ii.  93. 


•$  TUDIES  IN  R  US  Si  A . 

desolation  of  the  rest  of  Russia,  the  scene  is  indescrib- 
ably attractive  and  beautiful.  When  it  has  crossed  the 
Dnieper  by  a  long  bridge,  the  railway  makes  a  great 
circuit  to  the  station,  which  is  quite  at  the  back  of  the 
hills. 

It  is  certain  that  the  town  of  Kieff  existed  long  before 
it  is  mentioned  by  the  chroniclers.1  Askold  and  Dir,  two 
of  its  early  princes,  are  believed  to  have  been  the  first 
Russians  who  embraced  Christianity. 

"  In  the  year  866  they  made  their  appearance  in  armed  vessels 
before  the  vi  alls  of  Constantinople,  during  the  absence  of  the  Emper- 
or, and  caused  great  alarm  and  confusion  in  the  Greek  capital.  Tra- 
dition tells  that  the  Patriarch  Photius  took  the  virginal  robe  of  the 
Mother  of  God  from  the  Blachern  church,  and  plunged  it  beneath  the 
waters  of  the  straits,  when  the  sea  immediately  arose  in  storm,  and 
the  vessels  of  the  heathen  were  wrecked.  Awe-stricken  they  recog- 
nized the  God  who  had  smitten  them,  and  became  the  firstfruits  of 
their  people  to  the  Lord.  The  hymn  of  victory  of  the  Greek  church 
'  to  the  protecting  Conductress  '  in  honor  of  the  most  holy  Virgin,  has 
remained  a  memorial  of  this  triumph,  and  even  now  among  ourselves 
concludes  the  office  for  the  First  Hour  in  the  daily  matins,  for  that 
indeed  was  the  first  hour  of  salvation  for  the  land  of  Russia.' — 
Mouravieff. 

In  882  the  Varagian  princes  were  murdered,  and 
Kieff  was  seized  by  Oleg,  who  was  guardian  of  Igor,  son 
of  Rurik,  and  he  was  so  delighted  with  the  beauties  and 
advantages  of  the  situation  that  he  declared  Kieff  to  be 
"  the  mother  of  all  the  Russian  towns."  2  From  this  time, 
however,  Christianity  had  nothing  more  than  a  flickering 
existence  till  the  regency  of  the  famous  Olga  (945-955), 
widow  of  Igor,  herself  a  peasant  girl  from  Pskoff.  Olga, 
who  governed  Russia  during  the  minority  of  her  son 
Sviatoslaf,  was  probably  first  instructed  in  the  Christian 
faith  from  Moravia,  whither,  c.  900,  Methodius  and  Cyril 
traveled  from  Greece  to  plant  the  Gospel,  and  where, 
having  learned  the  Slavonian  language,  then  common  to 
Moravia  and  Russia,  they  translated  the  service  of  the 
Church,  or  some  part  of  it,  into  the  Slavonic  tongue  from 
the  Greek.  After  she  had  cruelly  avenged  the  death  of 
her  husband  upon  the  Volga,  Olga  made  a  pilgrimage  to 
"  Tsarigrad  "  (Constantinople),  to  seek  further  knowledge 

i  See  the  account  of  Askold's  tomb  at  Kieff.  2  Karamsin. 


CONVERSION  OF  VLADIMIR.  349 

of  the  true  God,  and  was  baptized  there  by  the  name  of 
Helena,  the  Emperor  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus  being 
her  godfather.  She  brought  back  with  her  the  priest 
Gregory,  by  whom  she  was  buried  (967)  with  Christian 
rites,  being  honored  as  a  saint  by  the  people  after  her 
death.  The  warlike  Sviatoslaf  (son  of  Olga),  who  was 
killed  in  battle  (972),  refused  to  renounce  paganism,  as 
he  believed  his  soldiers  would  abandon  him  if  he  did  so. 
But  his  son  Vladimir,  though  a  cunning,  debauched,  and 
bloody  barbarian,  who  had  obtained  the  throne  of  Kieff 
by  the  cruel  murder  of  his  elder  brother  Yaropolk,  after 
being  at  first  a  zealous  idolater,  became  the  real  founder 
of  Christianity  in  Russia.  The  curious  story  of  his  con- 
version is  recorded  by  Nestor,  who  lived  only  in  the  next 
generation  (1050-1116).  The  conversations  which  then 
took  place  with  the  numerous  proselytizers,  who  hoped 
to  lead  him  to  embrace  their  faith,  exhibit  a  curious  mix- 
ture of  craft,  simplicity,  and  barbaric  sense,  and  are  very 
characteristic  of  the  Russian  history  of  the  age. 

First  (986)  came  envoys  from  the  barbarian  Mussul- 
mans of  the  Volga,  saying,  "  Wise  and  prudent  prince  as 
thou  art,  thou  hast  neither  law  nor  religion  :  accept  ours 
and  honor  Mahomet."  "  But  in  what  does  your  religion 
consist  ?  "  asked  Vladimir.  "  We  believe  in  God,"  they 
answered,  "  and  we  believe  also  in  the  teaching  of  the 
Prophet.  Be  circumcised,  give  up  eating  pork,  and  after 
death  from  seventy  wives  choose  the  most  beautiful." 
Now  the  last  reason  had  weight  with  Vladimir,  but  he 
did  not  like  circumcision,  he  liked  pork,  and  loved  wine. 
"  Drinking,"  he  said,  "  is  the  greatest  pleasure  of  the 
Russians  ;  we  can  not  give  it  up." 

Then  came  representatives  of  Western  Christianity,  in 
the  person  of  members  of  the  sect  called  Paulicians,  and 
urged  Vladimir  to  embrace  their  doctrines,  saying  that 
the  Pope  had  sent  them.  "  And  what  does  your  law  com- 
mand ? "  he  asked.  "  Well,  we  fast,  and  when  any  one 
eats  or  drinks,  he  always  does  it  to  the  glory  of  God,  as 
we  have  been  told  by  our  master,  St.  Paul."  "  Go  hence  !  " 
cried  Vladimir  ;  "  our  fathers  did  not  believe  in  your 
religion,  and  did  not  receive  their  religion  from  the  Pope." 

Next  came  Jews  from  Khozar,  and  explained  how  their 
law  demanded  circumcision  and  the  observance  of  Satur- 


35°  STUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

day,  and  forbade  the  eating  of  pork  and  ham.  But  the 
Grand  Prince  asked  them  of  their  country,  and  when  they 
confessed  that  for  their  sins  it  had  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  Christians,  and  that  they  were  dispersed  over  the 
earth,  he  drove  them  from  his  presence,  saying,  "  How  do 
you,  whom  God  has  rejected,  dare  to  teach  others  ?  If 
God  had  approved  of  you,  He  would  never  have  dispersed 
you  abroad.  You  seem  to  wish  to  make  us  also  deserving 
of  your  punishment." 

Then  came  a  philosopher  from  Greece  and  explained 
all  dealings  of  God  with  the  world  from  its  creation, 
expounding  the  true  faith,  with  the  reward  of  the  righteous 
and  the  punishment  of  the  ungodly  ;  and,  to  give  force 
to  his  words,  he  showed  Vladimir  a  picture  of  the  Last 
Judgment,  which  represented  the  just  entering  Paradise 
and  the  wicked  driven  into  Hell.  By  this  Vladimir  was 
greatly  moved,  but  he  demanded  time  for  further  reflec- 
tion, though  he  sent  the  philosopher  away  laden  with 
honorable  gifts. 

In  the  next  year  Vladimir  summoned  his  nobles,  and 
told  them  all  he  had  heard,  and  they,  after  saying  that  it 
was  no  more  than  natural  that  every  one  should  praise 
his  own  religion,  urged  him  to  send  forth  wise  men  to 
examine  and  report  upon  the  worship  of  each  in  its  own 
country.  This  advice  was  followed,  and  after  having 
visited  the  centers  of  all  the  other  religions,  the  envoys 
came  to  Tsargorod  (Constantinople),  where  Basil  Por- 
phyrogenitus  was  then  reigning,  who  ordered  that  the 
messengers  of  Vladimir  should  "  see  the  glory  of  God  " 
in  the  Church  of  St.  Sophia. 

"  From  the  very  earliest  times  of  the  Church,  extraordinary  signs  of 
God's  power  have  constantly  gone  hand  in  hand  with  that  apparent 
weakness  of  man  by  which  the  Gospel  was  preached  ;  and  so  the 
Byzantine  chronicle  narrates  of  the  Russian  ambassadors.  That  dur- 
ing the  Divine  Liturgy,  at  the  time  of  carrying  the  holy  gifts  in  pro- 
cession to  the  throne  or  altar,  and  of  singing  the  cherubic  hymn,  the 
eyes  of  their  spirits  were  opened,  and  they  saw,  as  in  an  ecstasy,  glit- 
tering youths  who  joined  in  singing  the  hymn  of  the  Thrice  Holy. 
Being  thus  fully  persuaded  of  the  truth  of  the  orthodox  faith,  they 
returned  to  their  own  country  already  Christians  in  heart  ;  and  without 
saying  a  word  before  the  prince  in  favor  of  the  other  religions,  they 
declared  thus  concerning  the  Greek  : — '  When  we  stood  in  the  temple 
we  did  not  know  where  we  were,  for  there  is  nothing  else  like  it  upon 
earth  ;  there,  in  truth,  God  has  His  dwelling  with  man  ;  and  we  can 


CONVERSION  OF  VLADIMIR.  351 

never  forget  the  glory  which  we  saw  there.  No  one  who  has  once 
tasted  what  is  sweet,  will  afterward  take  that  which  is  bitter,  therefore 
we  can  not  any  longer  remain  pagans. '  Then  the  boyars  said  to  Vlad- 
imir, '  If  the  religion  of  the  Greeks  had  not  been  good,  your  grand- 
mother Olga,  the  wisest  of  women,  would  not  have  embraced  it.' 
The  remembrances  of  Olga  decided  her  grandson,  and  he  answered  no 
more  than  the  words,  '  When  shall  we  be  baptized  ?'  " — Mouravieff. 

"  Vladimir  avail  envoye  des  deputes  dans  divers  pays,  pour  savoir 
laquelle  de  toutes  les  religions  il  lui  convenait  le  mieux^  d'adopter  ;  il 
se  de'cida  pour  le  culte  grec,  a  cause  de  la  pompe  des  ceremonies.  II 
le  pre'fera  peut-etre  encore  par  des  motifs  plus  importants  :  en  effet,  le 
culte  grec,  en  excluant  1'empire  du  pape,  donne  au  souverain  de  la 
Russie  les  pouvoirs  spirituels  et  temporels  tout  ensemble." — Mine,  de 
Stall. 

But,  following  the  custom  of  his  ancestors,  Vladimir 
thought  it  necessary  to  conquer  his  new  religion  with  the 
sword,  and,  embarking  his  warriors,  laid  siege  to  Cherson, 
which  belonged  to  the  Greek  emperors.  This  siege  was 
unsuccessful,  till  a  certain  priest  named  Athanasius,  by 
means  of  an  arrow  shot  from  the  walls,  informed  the 
Russian  prince  that  the  fate  of  the  besieged  depended 
upon  the  supply  of  water  from  the  aqueducts.  The 
besiegers  then  cut  the  water-courses,  and  the  town  was 
forced  to  submit.  Yet  still,  before  he  finally  accepted  Chris- 
tianity, Vladimir  demanded  a  visible  proof  of  the  truth  of 
the  promises  of  the  Saviour,  that  whatever  was  asked  of 
the  Father  in  His  name,  He  would  give  it.  He  had  been 
assured  that  there  was  nothing  which  could  not  be 
obtained  from  God  by  prayer.  Therefore  he  declared 
that  as  God  had  preserved  the  companions  of  Daniel  in 
the  fiery  furnace,  He  might  well  preserve  the  Bible,  which 
contained  all  these  marvelous  histories,  from  being  con- 
sumed by  fire.  Thereupon  a  Bible  was  cast  into  a  great 
furnace,  where  it  lay  unconsumed,  till  all  the  fire  was 
spent.  Upon  this  Vladimir  was  at  last  convinced,  and  he 
embraced  Christianity,  though  at  the  same  time  he  char- 
acteristically demanded  from  the  Greek  emperors  (Basil 
Porphyrogenitus  and  Constantine)  the  hand  of  their  sister 
Anne,  promising  to  become  outwardly  Christian  if  it  was 
accorded,  and  vowing  that,  if  it  was  refused,  Constanti- 
nople should  share  the  fate  of  Cherson.  Anne  undertook 
for  the  sake  of  religion  to  sacrifice  herself  to  the  savage 
of  the  North,  and  upon  her  arrival  at  Cherson,  Vladimir 
was  baptized,  being  cured,  it  is  said,  of  a  disease  in  his 


352 


STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 


eyes,  at  the  moment  when  the  archbishop's  hands  were 
laid  upon  him.1 

When  Vladimir  returned  to  Kieff,  it  was  as  an  apostle 
(Isapostolos).  In  the  midst  of  the  tears  of  the  people  he 
destroyed  the  famous  idol  Peroun,  and  dismissed  his 
other  idols,  and  his  eight  hundred  concubines.  Then, 
having  caused  the  twelve  sons  which  his  six  wives  had 
borne  him  to  be  baptized,  he  ordered  a  general  baptism 
of  his  people,  declaring  that  any  who  refused  the  rite 
should  be  accounted  his  enemy. 

"At  the  call  of  their  honored  lord  all  the  multitude  of  the  citizens 
in  troops,  with  their  wives  and  children,  nocked  to  the  river,2  and 


THE   DNIEPER,    KIEFF. 


without  any  kind  of  opposition  received  holy  baptism  as  a  nation 
from  the  Greek  bishops  and  priests.  Nestor  draws  a  touching  pic- 
ture of  this  baptism  of  a  whole  people  at  once.  '  Some  stood  in  the 
water  up  to  their  necks,  others  up  to  their  breasts,  holding  their  young 
children  in  their  arms  ;  the  priests  read  the  prayers  from  the  shore, 
naming  at  once  whole  companies  by  the  same  name.'  He  who  was 
the  means  of  bringing  them  to  salvation,  filled  with  a  transport  of 
joy  at  the  affecting  sight,  cried  out  to  the  Lord,  offering  and  com- 
mending into  His  hands  himself  and  his  people  :  '  O  great  God  ! 
Who  hast  made  heaven  and  earth,  look  down  upon  these  Thy  new 
people.  Grant  them,  O  Lord,  to  know  Thee,  the  true  God,  as  Thou 
hast  been  made  known  to  Christian  lands,  and  confirm  them  in  a  true 

1  Karamsin. 

2  The   Potchaina,   not   the   Dnieper,  which   did  then   flow  at   the  foot  of  the 
hills. 


THE  FALL  OF  KTEFF.  353 

and  unwavering  faith  ;  and  assist  me,  O  Lord,  against  my  enemy  that 
opposes  me,  that,  trusting  in  Thee  and  in  Thy  power,  I  may  be  vic- 
torious over  his  wiles.'  Vladimir  erected  the  first  church,  that  of 
St.  Basil,  after  whom  he  was  named,  on  the  very  mount  which  had 
formerly  been  sacred  to  Peroun,  adjoining  his  own  palace.  Thus  was 
Russia  enlightened. " — Mouravieff. 

"  In  this  great  day,"  says  Nestor,  "  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  trembled  with  joy." 

Kieff  continued  to  be  the  residence  of  the  Russian 
metropolitans — the  Canterbury  of  Russia — from  the  time 
of  Vladimir  till  1299,  when  they  were  translated  to  the 
town  of  Vladimir.  From  997  (when  Christianity  was 
introduced)  till  1240,  Russia  continued  to  be  under  the 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  Constantinople,  but,  after 
the  Tartar  invasion  had  rendered  communication  with 
the  Greek  capital  more  difficult,  the  Princes  gradually 
assumed  the  right  of  choosing  the  metropolitan  of  Kieff, 
and  merely  sent  him  to  Constantinople  for  consecration. 
This  sign  of  submission  was  finally  abandoned  in  1448, 
and  the  metropolitan  was  thenceforth  consecrated  by  a 
council  of  Russian  bishops. 

The  Grand  Prince  Vladimir  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Yaroslaf,  who  built  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Sophia,  and  in- 
troduced into  Russia,  in  the  Rousskaia  Pravda,  the 
Byzantine  system  of  Canon  Law  and  the  rudiments  of 
Christian  education.  He  was  succeeded  (1054)  by  his 
son  Isaiaslaf,  followed  after  a  short  interval  (1093)  by  his 
son  Sviatopolk,  under  whom  the  Pecherskoe  monastery 
was  founded.  Vladimir  Monomachus,  grandson  of 
Yaroslaf,  who  succeeded  in  1113,  married  Gytha,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Saxon  Harold.1  At  his  death  this  prince  left 
singularly  wise  and  Christian  injunctions  to  his  sons,  en- 
joining as  their  mainspring  the  maxim  that  "  It  is  not 
fasting,  nor  solitude,  nor  monastic  life  that  will  procure 
eternal  life,  but  only  doing  good."2 

In  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  Kieff,  after 
Constantinople,  was  the  largest  and  richest  town  in  East- 
ern Europe  ;  but  the  chronicler  Ditmar  records  that  in 
1124,  the  year  before  the  death  of  Monomachus,  in  a 
great  fire  which  occurred,  as  many  as  six  hundred 
churches  and  chapels  were  burned  in  Kieff.  This  fact 

i  Mouravieff.  2  Karamsin,  ii. 


354  STUDIES  IN  R USSIA. 

shows  the  flourishing  state  of  religion  in  the  capital  at 
that  time. 

The  political  ascendency  of  Kieff  was  brief.  In  1158 
the  capital  was  transferred  to  Vladimir,  and  the  grand 
dukes  of  Kieff,  Vladimir,  and  Novogorod  soon  became 
merged  into  the  Tsar  of  Muscovy.  Meanwhile  the 
riches  of  the  ancient  capital  were  a  constant  attraction  to 
its  enemies,  and  it  was  four  times  destroyed  :  in  1171  by 
the  army  of  Andrew,  Prince  of  Sousdalia  ;  in  1240  by 
the  Mongol  Bati  Khan  ;  in  1416  by  the  Tartars  ;  and  in 
1584  by  the  Crimean  Tartars,  incited  by  Ivan  III.  of 
Moscow.  After  the  last  destruction  it  was  deserted  for 
ten  years,  then  rebuilt.  It  is  still,  in  spite  of  all  its  mis- 
fortunes, the  fourth  city  in  importance  of  the  Russian 
Empire,  but,  though  it  occupies  forty  square  kilometers, 
it  has  only  eighty  thousand  inhabitants  :  without  increas- 
ing its  limits  externally,  it  could  receive  three  times  that 
number  if  all  its  waste  places  were  built  upon.  Kieff  is 
the  sacred  city,  the  "  Holy  Place  "  of  Southern  Russia, 
the  Kiouba  or  Sambatas  of  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus, 
the  Kouyaba  of  the  Arabs,  the  Man-Kerman  of  the  Tar- 
tars. As  the  Great  Russian  speaks  of  "  Holy  Mother 
Moscow,"  so  the  Little  Russian  speaks  of  "  Holy  Mother 
Kieff." 

Kieff  is  formed  by  a  collection  of  towns,  difficult  of 
access  from  one  another.  The  ascents  and  descents  are 
well  managed,  but  interminable.1  Open  vans  instead  of 
omnibuses  meet  the  traveler  at  the  station,  and  take  him 
across  the  hills  to  the  fashionable  quarter  of  the  town, 
which  occupies  the  hollow  between  the  Town  on  the  Cliff, 
which  contains  the  cathedral  and  the  principal  churches, 
and  that  called  Pecherskoi,  which  contains  the  famous 
monastery.  The  Podol,  or  mercantile  part  of  the  town, 
lies  in  the  plain  of  the  Dnieper,  behind  the  Town  on  the 
Cliff.  The  Grand  Hotel  is,  for  Russia,  very  comfortable, 
and  stands  in  a  broad  street,  with  handsome  shops. 

Immediately  behind  the  hotel  rises  the  hill — "  The 
Cliff" — ascending  which  we  first  reach  upon  the  left  the 
vast  inclosure  of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Michael  of  the 
Golden  Head,  surmounted  by  many  gilded  domes.  Origi- 

i  No  town  has  steeper  hills  than   Kieff,  which  is  going  to  employ  the  cog-wheel 
principle,  used  on  the  Righi,  to  its  street  railways. 


ST.  SOPHIA  OF  KIEFF.  355 

nally  dating  from  the  first  years  of  the  twelfth  century, 
when  it  was  founded  by  Sviatopolk,  grandson  of  Yaros- 
laf,  who  was  buried  within  its  walls,  it  was  rebuilt  in  1523. 
The  church  contains  the  silver  shrine  of  St.  Barbara,  the 
patroness  of  armorers  and  soldiers  and  protectress  against 
lightning,  who  suffered  martyrdom  in  303,  having  been 
converted  to  Christianity  at  Alexandria  by  Origen.  The 
relics  of  the  saint  were  brought  to  Russia  by  Barbara, 
first  wife  of  Sviatopolk,  who  was  daughter  of  the  Em- 
peror of  Constantinople.1  Against  the  iconastos  is  the 
diamond-set  icon  of  St.  Michael,  which  Alexander  I.  took 
with  him  through  the  whole  campaign  of  1812.  Curious 
reliefs  represent  St.  George  and  St.  Demetrius  fighting 
dragons. 

Facing  us,  across  the  open  space  on  the  left,  stands  the 
gigantic  belfry  which  forms  the  approach  to  an  inclosure 
containing  the  magnificent  Cathedral  of  St.  Sophia,  "  the 
marvel  of  the  Ukraine,"  which  disputes  with  the  cathedral 
of  Tchernigow  the  palm  of  being  the  oldest  church  in 
Russia,  having  been  built  by  the  Grand  Duke  Yaroslaf 
(son  of  Vladimir)  in  1037,  in  memory  of  his  victory  over 
the  Petchenegians  on  that  spot. 

"  The  high-sounding  name  of  St.  Sophia  pleased  the  prince,  who 
wished  to  reproduce  in  his  own  capital  the  monuments  of  Byzantium, 
and  was  delighted  that  even  in  his  time  it  enjoyed  the  reputation  of 
being  a  second  Constantinople.  He  had  called  one  of  its  gates  '  the 
golden,' as  if  in  memory  of  those  gates  of  Constantinople  on  which 
his  ancestor  Oleg  had  hung  his  victorious  shield  ;  but  Yaroslaf  still 
more  ardently  desired  that  the  temple  of  the  Divine  Wisdom,  St. 
Sophia,  in  which  his  father's  ambassadors  had  first  believed  on  the  true 
God,  should  be  copied  at  least  in  name,  if  not  altogether  in  structure, 
in  his  two  capitals  of  Kieff  and  Novogorod,  as  Vladimir  had  erected 
the  Cathedral  of  the  most  holy  Virgin  in  memory  of  that  at  Cherson 
in  which  he  was  baptized.  The  metropolitan  Theopemptus,  who 
had  been  sent  by  the  patriarch  Alexis  Studites,  consecrated  the 
cathedral  of  St.  Sophia,  and  it  has  stood,  even  to  our  own  times, 
together  with  the  marble  tomb  of  its  founder,  through  all  the  storms 
of  the  Mongolian  invasion  and  the  frequent  sackings  of  Kieff." — 
Mouravieff. 

The  church  of  Kieff  is  a  great  deal  smaller  than  that 
of  Constantinople,  this  measuring  thirty-six  meters  by 
fifty-three,  that  ninety-six  by  seventy-seven.  This  church 
is  only  forty,  and  its  great  namesake  sixty-six  meters 

i  Mouravieff,  iii. 


356 


S  TUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 


high.  Still  St.  Sophia  of  Kieff  is  the  largest  of  the 
ancient  Russian  cathedrals.  The  interior  is  very  lofty  in 
effect,  and  will  strike  even  those  who  are  fresh  from  Mos- 
cow as  unspeakably  rich,  solemn  and  beautiful,  and  glo- 
rious in  its  harmonious  coloring.  Nothing  can  be  more 
effective  than  the  ancient  gold  which  here  covers  the 
walls,  and  the  brilliantly  lighted  tombs  of  the  saints  seen 
through  the  dark  arches.  Endless  and  labyrinthine  seem 
the  pillars,  the  tiny  chapels,  and  the  eight  secondary 
choirs  which  encircle  the  principal  choir.  A  gorgeous 
iconastos  cuts  the  church  in  half,  and  innumerable  icons 


ST.   SOPHIA,    KIEFF. 


sparkle  everywhere  under  their  "  metallic  cloths,"  as  the 
Russians  call  them.  In  one  of  the  chapels  on  the  right, 
that  of  the  Three  Popes,  are  some  ancient  Byzantine 
frescoes,  absolutely  untouched.  Their  preservation  in 
recent  times  is  due  to  the  Emperor  Nicholas.  "  Time 
will  thus  show,"  he  said,  "  to  posterity,  that  in  all  the  rest 
of  the  church  we  have  been  satisfied  to  restore  without 
making  any  innovations."  On  the  stairs  which  lead  to 
the  upper  galleries  are  representations  of  fantastic 
animals,  probably  the  most  interesting  frescoes  in  Russia 


ST.  SOPHIA  OF  KIEFF.  357 

— huntsmen  pursuing  wild  beasts,  which  are  sometimes 
perched  in  the  trees.  Other  frescoes  represent  a  man  in 
prison,  and  a  sort  of  tribunal,  dancers  moving  to  the 
sound  of  many  instruments,  a  juggler,  and  charioteers  in 
a  hippodrome  waiting  the  signal  for  the  race. 

"  Part  out  il  y  a  des  accessoires,  des  divisions,  des  compartiments  a 
1'infini  ;  au  milieu  de  ces  chapelles  et  de  ces  galeries,  on  cherche 
1'eglise  ;  mais  ce  qui  rejouit  1'archeologue,  c'est  1'immense  quantite  de 
fresques  et  de  mosai'ques  qui  couvrent  ces  voutes  et  ces  piliers.  On 
voit  partout  des  prophetes,  des  saints,  des  docteurs  avec  leurs  grands 
yeux  fixes,  noirs,  nullement  russes,  et  ce  type  special  que  denote  un 
pinceau  byzantin.  Le  livre  sacre  dans  une  main,  1'autre  levee  pour 
benir  ou  pour  instruire,  ils  semblent  continuer  1'oeuvre  d'evangelisation 
commencee  par  les  Grecs  du  xme  siecle  parmi  les  populations  slaves. 
Leurs  noms  memes  sont  inscrits  non  en  caracteres  slaves,  mais  en  grec. 
Aux  voutes  des  chapelles  et  des  galeries  planent  les  anges  de  Dieu, 
ces  '  faces  volantes  '  qui  n'ont  d'autre  corps  que  six  ailes  flamboyantes 
et  multicolores.  Tous  ces  sujets  sont  traites  d'une  fa£on  absolument 
identique  a  ceux  qui  decorent  1'eglise  de  Justinien." — Alfred  Ram- 
baud. 

In  the  mosaics  behind  the  altar  is  a  colossal  figure  of 
the  Virgin,  with  the  inscription,  "  God  is  in  the  midst  of 
her  ;  she  shall  not  be  moved."  *  Below  is  the  Last  Sup- 
per, in  which  the  figure  of  Christ  appears  twice.  On  the 
right  of  the  tabernacle,  which  is  guarded  by  angels,  He 
gives  his  Body  to  six  of  the  Apostles,  on  the  left  He  gives 
his  Blood  to  the  other  six. 

In  the  chapel  of  his  father,  St.  Vladimir,  is  the  tomb 
of  the  founder,  Yaroslaf,  with  whom  the  power  and  pros- 
perity of  ancient  Russia  came  to  an  end.2  The  sculp- 
ture of  the  tomb — Latin  crosses,  fish,  and  palms — recalls 
that  of  the  Roman  catacombs. 

"  Sous  ce  Yaroslaf,  Kief  atteignit  au  xie  siecle  son  plus  magnifique 
developpement  :  c'est  alors  qu'elle  fut  la  ville  aux  700  eglises.  Apres 
la  mort  de  ce  Charlemagne  russe,  qui  fut  le  beau-pere  d'un  roi  de 
France,  Kief  cut  le  sort  d' Aix-la-Chapelle.  Pillee  pendant  les  guerres 
civiles  des  princes  russes,  saccagee  par  les  Tatars  en  1280,  conquise 
par  les  Polonais,  sa  decadence  fut  rapide.  Vers  le  milieu  du  xvie  siecle 
de  grands  arbres  crossaient  sur  les  toils  de  Sainte-Sophie. " — Rambaud. 

In  accordance  with  his  wish,  Vsevolod,  the  favorite 
son  of  the  great  Yaroslaf,  was  laid  by  his  father's  side  in 
1093.  "  All  the  people  assisted  at  his  funeral,  for  they 

i  Psalm  xlvi.  5.  2  Karamsin. 


358  STUDIES  IN  R USSIA. 

deplored  the  loss  of  their  princes  as  that  of  veritable 
fathers,  the  recollection  of  their  failings  being  swallowed 
up  in  that  of  their  benefits.1 

It  was  in  this  church  that  Vladimir  Monomachus,  pro- 
claimed first  Tsar  of  Russia,  was  crowned  (1123)  by  the 
metropolitan  of  Ephesus.  But  the  crown,  still  preserved 
at  Moscow,  which  is  called  by  his  name,  and  used  in  the 
Imperial  coronations,  is  now  decided  never  to  have 
belonged  to  Vladimir.  Here,  also,  after  his  death  in 
1126,  which  took  place  at  the  spot  where  Boris  was  mur- 
dered on  the  shore  of  the  Alta,  this  illustrious  prince  was 
buried. 

Among  the  great  relics  of  the  church  are  the  uncor- 
rupt  remains  of  the  metropolitan  St.  Macarius,  martyred 
on  the  road  by  the  Tartars2  in  1497. 

It  is  probably  at  St.  Sophia  that  we  shall  obtain  our  first 
sight  of  the  crowds  of  pilgrims  who  are  always  visiting 
Kieff — Cossackmen  in  a  single  garment  of  sheepskin  or 
sackcloth,  women  in  turbans,  short  brilliant-colored 
petticoats,  and  jack-boots.  Most  strange  at  first  is  the 
bowing,  curvetting,  and  prostrating  figures,  never  making 
their  obeisance  at  the  same  time,  but  just  when  the 
impulse  of  the  moment  prompts  them  ;  and  yet  no  one 
can  help  being  touched  by  the  reality  of  reverence  which 
is  seen  here — the  absorption  unconscious  of  all  surround- 
ings ;  often  the  rapt  beatitude.  At  night,  near  all  the 
churches,  rows  of  sheepskins  may  be  seen  lying  on  the 
ground.  These  are  men  asleep  under  the  stars,  sheep- 
skins being  at  once  the  dress,  beds,  carpets,  and  tents  of 
the  peasants. 

A  wide  grassy  inclosure  ^surrounds  the  cathedral, 
with  trees  and  the  palace  of  the  metropolitan  on  one 
side.  It  is  to  this  inclosure  that  the  mighty  detached 
belfry  serves  as  a  portal. 

In  the  handsome  street  near  the  cathedral  a  little 
chapel  covers  the  spring  which  is  said  to  have  gushed 
forth  at  the  call  of  St.  Vladimir,  and  in  which  his  twelve 
sons  were  baptized.  A  painting  here  commemorates  the 
wholesale  baptism  of  the  population,  the  shoulders  and 
breasts  of  the  Christian  converts  only  veiled  by  their 
long  tresses.  The  docile  nature  of  the  Russians  was 

i  Karamsin.  2  Mouravieff,  xxx. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ST.  BASIL.  359 

never  evinced  more  than  in  the  facility  of  their  conver- 
sion. "  If  baptism  had  not  been  good,  our  princes  and 
nobles  would  not  have  received  it,"  was  a  reason  quite 
sufficient  for  them. 

Several  other  buildings  must  be  visited  in  the  Town 
on  the  Cliff.  Most  of  them  stand  near  together  toward 
the  brow  of  the  hill  overhanging  the  Dnieper,  and 
separated  by  wide  grassy  spaces  and  rough  lanes  rather 
than  streets,  which  will  recall  the  deserted  paths  of  the 
Aventine  to  those  who  are  familiar  with  Rome.  We 
must  notice  the  beautiful  Byzantine  frescoes  in  the  Church 
of  St.  Cyril,  and  the  shapeless  mass  of  masonry  which  once 
contained  the  Golden  Gate  (Zolotye  Vorota],  built  by  Yar- 
oslaf  in  imitation  of  that  at  Constantinople.  Boleslas,  of 
Poland,  when  he  entered  Kieff,  split  the  Golden  Gate 
with  the  sword  which  tradition  declares  to  have  been 
given  to  him  by  an  angel,  and  which  was  afterward  called 
"  the  nicked,"  on  account  of  a  bit  which  was  hacked 
out  when  he  was  cutting  through  the  gate  of  Kieff.1 
This  sword,  still  preserved  in  the  cathedral  of  Cracow, 
was  long  used  at  the  Polish  coronations.  The  rude  frag- 
ments which  inclosed  the  Golden  Gate  are  interesting  as 
the  only  existing  remains  of  the  ancient  walls  and 
towers  of  Kieff. 

The  Church  of  St.  Basil,  or  the  Three  Popes  (Trekhsvia- 
titelei),  has  been  too  much  restored  to  be  of  much  pres- 
ent interest ;  but  it  was  founded  in  989  by  Vladimir, 
who  took  the  name  of  Basil  at  his  baptism.  He  chose 
the  site  because  there,  before  his  conversion,  he  had 
erected  his  famous  statue  of  Peroun,  the  god  of  thunder, 
made  of  wood,  with  a  silver  head  and  a  golden  beard. a 
Peroun  was  the  greatest  of  the  ancient  gods  ;  his  bow 
was  the  rainbow,  his  arrows  the  thunderbolts,  his  golden 
key  the  lightning  with  which  he  was  supposed  to  unlock 
the  frozen  springs  of  the  earth.3  With  the  tempests,  he 
could  hold  the  spirits  of  evil  in  subjection.4  Here  his 
statue  was  surrounded  by  those  of  the  other  gods  as 
satellites — Khorse,  Dazhbog,  Stribog,  Simargla,  and 

i  See  notes  to  Karamsin.  2  Rambaud- 

3  In  Christian  mythology  the  attributes  of  Peroun  seem  to  have  passed  to  St» 
Ehas  the  Prophet-  When  it  thunders,  the  people  say,  "  The  Prophet  Elias  is 
driving  in  his  chariot  through  the  heaven." — See  Tourgutnejff^  "  Parents  and 
Children-'"  4  Ralston. 


360  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

Mokoche.  "  Here,"  says  Nestor,  "  one  saw  the  deluded 
people  crowd  to  redden  the  earth  with  the  blood  of  their 
victims."  Close  by  is  the  ravine  of  Boritchef,  long 
time  called  "  the  Devil's  Falling  Place,"  1  for  here,  after 
Vladimir  had  caused  Peroun  to  be  dragged  over  the 
hills  at  his  horse's  tail,  scourged  by  twelve  mounted 
pursuers,  he  threw  him  down  into  the  river.  But,  being  of 
wood,  Peroun  floated  upon  the  sacred  waters,  and  was 
carried  to  the  spot  called  Vydoubitski,  where  the  people 
dragged  it  to  shore  and  worshiped  it.  Vladimir,  how- 
ever, destroyed  it  there,  and  built  a  commemorative 
monastery  on  the  site.  The  spot  where  the  idol  was 
brought  to  land  was  long  known  as  the  Bay  of 
Peroun. 

The  Desiatinnaja  Church  (Church  of  the  Tithes),  of 
remarkable  and  striking,  though  heavy  character,  is  a 
modern  reproduction,  on  the  same  site,  of  the  ancient 
church  founded  in  989  by  St.  Vladimir,  who  made  a 
vow  to  endow  it  with  a  tenth  part  of  all  his  revenues. 
Hence  it  was  generally  known  as  "  the  Cathedral  of  the 
Tithes,"8  though  it  was  dedicated  to  the  "  Holy  Mother 
of  God,"  being  built  in  the  "  two-faithed  "  days,  when, 
immediately  after  the  destruction  of  Peroun,  the  Virgin 
Mary  was  beginning  to  take  the  place  of  Lada,  the 
Russian  goddess  of  Spring,  and  sister  of  Peroun.  This 
is  the  church  alluded  to  at  the  end  of  the  famous 
ballad  called  "  the  song  of  Igor." 

"Igor  arrives  at  Boritchef,  at  the  church  of  the  Holy  Mother  of 
God  of  Pirogoch.  The  country  rejoices,  the  towns  are  glad  ;  songs 
are  sung  in  honor  of  the  elder  princes,  then  of  the  younger.  They 
sing  the  glory  of  Igor  Sviatoslavitch,  of  the  savage  auroch  Vsevolod,3 
of  Vladimir  the  falconnet,  the  son  of  Igor.  Health  to  the  princes,  and 
to  their  droujina  which  fights  for  the  Christian  people  against  the 
pagans  !  Glory  to  the  princes,  Amen  to  their  droujina  !  " 

Vladimir  endowed  his  church  with  the  images,  cross, 
and  vases,  which  he  had  brought  from  Cherson,  and 
gave  it  up  to  the  administration  of  priests  from  that  town, 
under  the  government  of  Anastasius,  by  whose  treachery 
he  had  taken  that  city.4  This  was  the  earliest  stone 

i  Rambaud-  2  Mouravieff.  3  Brother  of  Igor. 

4  Karamsin.  This  Anastasius  who  had  betrayed  Cherson  to  Vladimir,  after- 
ward betrayed  his  second  country  to  Boleslas,  King  of  Poland. 


THE  DESIATINNAJA  CHURCH.  361 

cathedral  erected  in  Russia,1  and  the  site  was  chosen  as 
being  that  where  the  Varagian  martyrs,  honored  by  the 
Greek  Church  under  the  names  of  John  and  Theodore, 
suffered.  After  Vladimir,  in  A.  D.  983,  had  returned 
from  the  conquest  of  Yatvagers  (a  Finnish  tribe),  and 
was  celebrating  a  festival  in  honor  of  his  gods,  his 
elders  and  boyars,  in  the  flush  of  victory,  had  said  to 
him  :  "  Let  us  cast  lots  upon  our  sons  and  daughters, 
and  on  whomsoever  the  lot  shall  fall,  him  we  will  sacrifice 
with  the  sword  unto  our  gods." 

"And  there  was  a  Varagian,  whose  residence  stood  on  the  spot 
now  occupied  by  the  church  of  the  Holy  Mother  of  God,  which  Vlad- 
imir built.  This  Varagian  had  come  from  Greece,  from  the  imperial 
city,  together  with  his  son,  whose  name  was  John.  He  dwelt  in 
Kieff,  and  was  firmly  attached  to  the  Christian  faith.  His  son  was 
still  young,  and  endowed  with  personal  and  mental  charms.  It  was 
upon  this  man,  through  the  envy  of  the  devil,  that  the  lot  fell.  And 
the  men  who  were  sent  to  him  declared — '  Behold,  the  lot  is  fallen 
upon  thy  son,  and  he  must  be  offered  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  gods. ' 
And  the  Varagian  answered  them  and  said  :  '  Yours  are  no  gods,  but 
lifeless  idols  ;  they  endure  for  a  day,  and  then  they  become  rotten  ; 
they  are  the  works  of  men's  hands,  which  the  ax  and  the  knife  have 
formed.  But  God  is  the  only  One,  who  dwelleth  in  the  heavens  : 
Him  the  Greeks  serve  and  worship  as  the  Creator  of  the  heaven  and 
the  earth,  of  the  stars,  the  sun,  and  the  moon,  the  Creator  of  man 
and  of  all  creatures,  whose  lives  are  in  His  hands.  But  as  for  your 
gods,  what  have  they  created — they  who  are  themselves  the  work  of 
men's  hands,  who  will  soon  perish  and  be  forgotten?  I  will  not  give 
up  my  son  to  such  a  superstitious  people.'  Then  those  who  were  sent 
returned  and  related  these  words  to  the  assembly,  upon  which  the  peo- 
ple came  armed  and  destroyed  every  thing  around  the  house.  The 
Varagian  stood  on  a  covered  balcony  with  his  son,  and  the  people  cried, 
'  Give  us  your  son,  that  we  may  offer  him  up  to  the  gods.'  But  he 
replied  to  them,  '  If  they  be  gods,  let  them  send  one  of  their  number 
to  seize  my  son  ;  but  why  should  you  wish  to  make  a  sacrifice  to  them  ?  ' 
Then  the  people  cried  out.  and  hewed  down  the  beams  which  sup- 
ported the  balcony,  and  in  that  manner  destroyed  both  the  Vara- 
gians. " — Rosenkampf. 

In  this  church  is  the  tomb  of  Vladimir  (1015),  the 
Apostle  of  Russia,  who  bears  the  same  title  as  Constan- 
tine — "  Isapostolos,"  equal  to  an  apostle.  The  royal 
saint  is  represented  on  the  lid  of  the  tomb,  which  is 
adorned  with  the  signs  of  the  zodiac.  He  was  laid  by 
the  side  of  the  Eastern  Grand  Princess  Anne,  who  had 

i  Mouravieff, 


362  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

died  four  years  before.  When  the  ancient  Church  of  the 
Tithes  was  destroyed  by  the  Tartars  in  1240,  the  relics 
of  Vladimir  were  lost ;  but  they  were  discovered  under 
one  of  the  ruined  arches  by  Archbishop  Peter  Mogila  in 
1636, 1  still  remaining  intact  in  their  marble  coffins,  while 
a  similar  coffin  close  by  contains  the  remains  of  Anne. 
Mogila,  who  had  been  archimandrite  of  the  Pecherskoe, 
gave  the  head  of  Vladimir  to  his  old  monastery,  but  left 
the  other  bones  and  those  of  the  Grand  Princess  undis- 
turbed.2 

' '  Vladimir  est  devenu  le  centre  dans  les  chansons  populaires  :  dans 
ces  bylines  il  est  a  remarquer  qu'il  n'est  ni  Vladimir  le  Baptiseur,  ni  le 
Saint  Vladimir  de  1'eglise  orthodoxe,  mais  presque  un  he'ros  solaire,  le 
successeur  de  ces  divinites  qu'il  a  de'truites.  Pour  le  peuple,  au 
fond  reste  pai'en,  Vladimir  est  toujours  le  Beau  Soleil  de  Kief." — A. 
Rambaud,  "Hist,  de  la  Russie" 

The  superstitious  Yaroslaf  ordered  the  bodies  of  Oleg 
and  Yaropolk,  the  brothers  of  Vladimir,  who  had  died  in 
paganism,  to  be  exhumed,  baptized,  and  buried  again  in 
this  church.  Close  to  Yaroslaf  was  buried,  "  amid  the 
sobs  of  the  people,  which  drowned  the  chanting  of  the 
priests,"  3  his  grandson,  the  brave  and  virtuous  Ysiaslaf 
(1078),  who  was  killed  in  battle  at  Tchernigov.  Here 
also  his  son,  Yaropolk,  murdered  in  his  chariot,  was 
buried  in  1086. 

It  was  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  this  church 
which  was  the  scene  of  the  last  courageous  struggle  with 
the  terrible  invading  force  of  the  Tartars  under  Bati 
Khan  in  1240. 

"  Mangou,  son  of  Genghis  Khan,  was  sent  to  reconnoiter  Kieff  ; 
he  found  it  upon  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Dnieper,  and,  according  to 
the  annalist,  was  never  weary  of  admiring  its  delightful  aspect.  In- 
deed, the  picturesque  position  of  the  town  on  the  steep  shores  of  a 
noble  river,  the  magnificence  of  its  churches,  whose  brilliant  cupolas 
stood  out  against  the  horizon,  seen  through  the  rich  foliage  of  gardens, 
the  white  walls  which  surrounded  it,  its  gates  and  threatening  towers— 
master-works  of  Byzantine  architects  in  the  happy  days  of  Yaroslaf 
the  Great — all  were  calculated  to  astonish  the  barbarians  of  the  desert. 
.  .  .  Soon,  like  a  fearful  storm,  the  terrible  army  of  Bati  surrounded 
Kieff  on  every  side.  The  noise  of  innumerable  wagons,  the  bellow- 
ing of  camels  and  oxen,  the  neighing  of  horses,  the  fierce  cries  of  the 
enemy,  scarcely,  according  to  the  annalist,  allowed  a  voice  to  be 

x  See  Mouravieff.  2  Dictionary  of  Russian  Saints.     St.  Petersburg,  1836, 

3  Nestor, 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  OLD  K1EFF.  363 

audible  inside  the  town.  .  .  .  The  attack  begins  by  an  assault  upon 
the  Polish  Gate,  which  leads  to  the  ravines  ;  there,  day  and  night, 
battering-rams  and  other  engines  of  war  beat  upon  the  walls,  which, 
yielding  to  their  furious  blows,  fall  with  a  crash,  and  leave  the 
brave  Kievians,  the  best  protection  of  their  unhappy  town,  without 
defense.  A  fearful  struggle  instantly  commences :  the  arrows 
darken  the  air,  the  dead  and  dying  are  rolled  under  foot  ;  the  despair 
of  the  besieged  long  resists  the  superior  numbers  of  the  enemy, 
but  by  the  evening  the  Tartars  are  in  possession  of  the  walls. 
The  success  of  the  Mongols  does  not  weaken  the  courage  of 
the  Russian  soldiers  :  they  beat  a  retreat  as  far  as  the  Church  of 
the  Tithes  ;  they  surround  it  by  night  with  a  palisade,  and,  entrenched 
behind  this  kind  of  fortification,  boldly  await  the  enemy,  while 
all  the  inhabitants  who  are  unfit  to  bear  arms,  shut  themselves 
up  in  the  church  with  all  their  most  precious  possessions.  It  was 
impossible  that  such  a  feeble  means  of  defense  could  save  the  town  ; 
nevertheless  not  a  word  of  negotiation  was  heard  ;  no  one  thought  of 
asking  grace,  of  imploring  the  clemency  of  the  cruel  Bati  ;  all  faced 
the  death  that  awaited  them  as  a  generous  sacrifice  imposed  by  their 
religion  and  country.  .  .  .  The  Mongols,  worn  out  with  fatigue, 
passed  the  night  on  the  ruins  of  the  walls  ;  with  the  morning  they 
recommenced  the  attack,  and  soon  broke  through  the  feeble  barrier 
which  the  courage  of  the  Russians  had  opposed  to  them.  These,  sus- 
tained by  the  feeling  that  the  tomb  of  St.  Vladimir  was  behind  them, 
and  that  they  were  defending  this  last  asylum  of  their  liberty,  exe- 
cuted prodigies  of  valor.  All,  however,  wc^  in  vain,  and  the  barba- 
rians reached  the  church  of  Our  Lady,  after  having  strewn  the  space 
which  separated  them  from  it  with  corpses. 

' '  To  celebrate  their  victory,  the  Mongols  gave  themselves  up  for 
several  days  to  all  the  horrors  of  destruction.  Weary  of  carnage,  they 
buried  under  the  blood-stained  ruins  the  whole  population,  the  master- 
pieces of  art,  the  fruits  of  a  long  civilization  ;  and  the  ancient  Kieff, 
that  famous  capital,  the  mother  of  Russian  towns,  disappeared  for- 
ever, for,  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  only  scattered  ruins 
attested  its  existence,  and  the  new  town  offers  nothing  but  the  shadow 
of  its  ancient  splendor.  It  is  in  vain  that,  urged  by  curiosity,  the 
traveler  will  seek  for  the  objects  so  sacred  in  Russian  eyes.  Where 
will  he  find  the  tomb  of  St.  Olga  ?  What  has  become  of  the  bones  of 
St.  Vladimir  ?  The  pitiless  Bati  did  not  even  spare  the  sacred  refuge 
of  the  tomb,  and  the  barbarians  trampled  the  skulls  of  the  ancient  prin- 
ces under  their  feet.  The  tomb  of  Yaroslaf  alone  escaped  the  devasta- 
tion, as  if  to  recall  to  the  world  that  the  glory  of  the  law-givers  of  men  is 
the  most  solid  and  the  most  durable.  The  Church  of  the  Tithes,  that 
earliest,  that  magnificent  building,  erected  by  Greek  architects,  was 
ruined  to  its  foundations,  and  its  remains  have  since  been  used  in  the 
construction  of  another  church,  in  the  walls  of  which  one  may  see,  at 
the  present  time,  fragments  of  an  inscription  belonging  to  the  ancient 
building. " — Karamsin. 

In  a  most  picturesque  position — a  point  overhanging 
the  plain,  just  beyond  the  other  churches,  stands  St. 


364  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

Andrea  (Andreya  Pervoyvannago),  supposed  to  mark  the 
site  where  St.  Andrew  first  prophetically  planted  the  cross. 
It  is  a  pretty  building,  erected  in  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  by  Rastrelli.  In  the  gracefully  decorated  inter- 
ior is  a  cross,  brought  from  Mount  Athos  by  Mouravieff 
the  historian.  The  church  is  approached  by  an  iron 
staircase,  and  stands  on  a  terrace  which  has  a  glorious 
view  over  the  plain  of  the  Dnieper.  From  hence  the  pil- 
grims delight  to  trace  out  their  past  wanderings  as  in  a 
map,  and  the  terrace  is  always  peopled  by  groups  of 
them,  one  generally  explaining  the  different  features  in 
the  view.  Hence  one  may  often  witness  such  soul-sub- 
duing sunsets  as  recalls  the  description  of  Gogol. 

"  As  evening  came  on,  the  whole  scenery  of  the  steppe  underwent 
a  change.  The  last  bright  reflection  of  the  sun  once  more  encircled 
its  variegated  expanse,  which  grew  gradually  darker  as  the  shades  of 
evening  slowly  advanced  over  it,  making  its  green  hues  blacker  and 
more  black  ;  the  scents  became  more  aromatic  ;  every  flower,  every 
herb  sent  forth  its  sweet  perfumes,  and  a  cloud  of  fragrance  seemed 
to  hover  over  the  whole  of  the  steppe.  Across  the  blue  darkness  a 
giant  brush  seemed  to  have  drawn  broad  stripes  of  red  gold  ;  at  times 
light  transparent  clouds  flitted  across  it  like  so  many  white  flocks  ;  the 
most  delicious  breeze,  fresh  as  the  salt  waves,  gently  stirred  the  sur- 
face of  the  grass,  and  softly  caressed  the  cheek.  The  harmony 
which  had  filled  the  steppe  by  day  was  silenced,  and  other  sounds 
took  its  place.  Animals  which  had  burrowed  underground  through- 
out the  day  came  forth,  and  made  the  steppe  resound  with  their  cries 
and  hisses.  Louder  and  louder  grew  the  chirrup  of  the  crickets. 
Sometimes  from  a  distant  pool  the  cry  of  a  swan  was  heard  ringing 
silvery  through  the  air." — Tarass  Boolba. 

A  very  steep  winding  road  leads  down  the  rugged  hill- 
side from  St.  Andrea  to  the  Podol,  the  city  in  the  plain, 
where  the  Potchina  falls  into  the  Dnieper.  This  is  the 
town  of  commerce  and  industry,  which  contains,  among 
many  other  ecclesiastical  edifices,  the  Bratski  Monastery, 
principally  built  by  Mazeppa.1  Some  of  its  buildings  are 
occupied  by  an  ecclesiastical  college.  The  church  of  St. 
Vlasius  (Blaise),  who  has  succeeded  him  as  a  pastoral 
protector,  commemorates  the  sanctuary  of  Voloss,  the 

i  The  name  of  Mazeppa,  which  constantly  comes  across  travelers  at  Kieff,  is 
best  known  in  England  from  the  story  of  the  wild  horse.  This  had  its  origin  in 
the  fact  that,  while  living  on  his  mother's  estate  of  Volhynia,  he  had  an  intrigue 
with  the  wife  of  a  neighboring  noble  named  Falbowski.  By  him  he  was  caught  on 
his  return  from  a  surreptitious  visit,  and  bound  naked  to  a  horse,  which,  frightened 
by  a  pistol-shot  close  to  its  ear,  rushed  furiously  through  the  woods,  bringing  its 
master  home  torn  and  bleeding. 


THE  PODOL.  365 

shepherd's  god,  the  Pan  of  the  Slaves.  One  of  the 
principal  streets,  with  a  population  of  fishermen,  Jews, 
and  small  tradesmen,  recalled  its  marshy  situation  by  the 
name  of  "  Black  Mud  Street."  We  may  still  see  the 
quarter  of  Lebed,  where  the  beautiful  Rogneda  dwelt, 
who  was  betrothed  to  Yaropolk,  the  elder  brother  of 
Vladimir,  and  whom  the  latter  married  by  force,  having 
murdered  her  father  Rogvolod,  and  his  two  sons.  And 
the  Slobode  of  Be'restof  still  exists  where  Vladimir  kept 
two  hundred  out  of  the  eight  hundred  concubines  whom 
Nestor  attributes  to  the  Solomon  of  the  Slaves.1  Beyond 
the  Podol  is  a  most  picturesque  market,  whence  a  steep 
ladder-like  staircase  leads  to  a  Roman  Catholic  cemetery 
and  its  chapel.  Hence  there  is  a  striking  view  of  the 
town  and  its  churches  crowning  the  opposite  hill,  in 
which  the  great  brown  rifts  recall  the  gorges  of  Siena 
to  the  Italian  traveler. 

The  Ascension  Convent  has  a  pretty  green  court,  with 
old  walnut-trees  and  walks,  and  the  most  complete  seclu- 
sion. The  University,  which  ranks  third  in  the  country, 
removed  hither  from  Wilna  in  1833,  is  one  of  the  ten  Rus- 
sian universities."  The  Dnieper  now  threatens  again  to 
desert  the  Podol,  and  is  only  prevented  by  artificial 
embankments. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  views  in  Kieff  is  to  be 
obtained  from  the  delightful  walks  on  the  promontory  of 
the  hill,  where  the  brutal  Vladimir,  whose  hand  was  often- 
est  raised  to  murder,  is  represented  in  benediction  in  a 
bronze  statue.  Most  glorious  is  the  Dnieper  as  seen 
from  hence  ! 

"  How  beautiful  is  the  Dnieper,  when,  in  a  time  of  calm,  its  waters 
flow  freely  through  the  forests  and  hills  !  There  is  no  ripple  on  the 
water,  it  makes  no  sound  ;  you  look,  and  you  do  not  know  if  this 
majestic  surface  is  in  movement  or  motionless  ;  one  might  say  it  was 
of  glass  ;  yet  one  is  conscious  that  this  pathway,  blue  as  a  mirror, 
immense  in  its  width,  infinite  in  its  length,  is  springing  forward  and 
eddying  onward. 

"  Then  the  burning  sun  delights  to  look  down  from  its  ethereal 
heights,  and  bury  its  rays  in  the  cold  crystal  of  the  waters  ;  the  trees 
on  the  bank  love  to  throw  their  shadows  over  the  waves  !  Laden  with 

1  Karamsin. 

2  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  Kieff,    Kharkof,  Kazan,  Odessa,  Warsaw,  Dorpat, 
Helsingfors,  and  Tomsk  in  Siberia. 


366  STUDIES  7.V  J? USSIA. 

feathery  branches  they  meet  the  flowers  of  the  field  upon  the  shore, 
and,  bending  over,  they  gaze  at  themselves  in  the  water  unweariedly, 
contemplate  their  clear  image,  smile  to  it,  and  salute  it  by  waving 
their  leaves.  But  they  do  not  dare  to  look  into  the  middle  of 
Dnieper  ;  it  is  only  the  sun  and  the  blue  heaven  that  can  do  that  ; 
even  the  birds  can  seldom  manage  it.  No  river  in  the  world  is  equal 
to  this  in  its  magnificence  ! 

"  How  beautiful  is  the  Dnieper,  in  a  hot  summer  night,  when  every 
thing  is  asleep :  man,  beast,  and  bird  ;  God  alone  contemplates 
majestically  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  and  waves  His  robes  with  dig- 
nity. The  stars  shine  forth,  they  burn  and  light  the  world,  and  all 
reflect  themselves  in  the  Dnieper.  It  holds  them  all  in  its  dark  bed  ; 
not  one  of  them  can  escape  it,  unless  its  light  is  put  out  in  the  heavens  ; 
the  dark  forest  peopled  with  sleeping  ravens,  the  mountains  wooded 
for  centuries,  hasten  to  cover  it  at  least  with  their  gigantic  shadows. 
It  is  in  vain  !  nothing  in  the  world  can  hide  the  Dnieper.  Its  blue 
waves  flow  slowly,  and  the  night  is  as  the  day,  one  can  see  it  as  far 
as  the  human  eye  can  reach.  After  the  cold  of  the  night  it  hurries 
and  embraces  the  shore,  where  it  forms  silver  ripplets,  which  shine 
like  the  edge  of  a  Damascus  sword  ;  after  which,  all  blue,  it  falls 
back  into  sleep.  Then  the  Dnieper  is  beautiful,  and  there  is  no  river 
which  is  equal  to  it !  But  when,  upon  the  mountains,  the  blue  mists 
gather, the  dark  forest  is  shaken  to  its  foundations,  the  oaks  snap 
asunder,  and  the  lightning,  furrowing  the  clouds  in  zigzags,  suddenly 
lightens  the  world.  Then  the  Dnieper  is  terrible  !  Its  waves  arise, 
roar,  dash  themselves  against  the  hills,  and  then  recede  covered  with 
foam,  and  send  forth  their  lamentation  to  the  far  distance." — Gogdl, 
"  The  Honible  Vengeance" 

Crossing  the  valley  beyond  the  old  town,  with  the 
street  which  contains  the  hotels,  we  should  now  ascend 
the  pleasant  brick  pathway  on  the  wooded  hillside  of 
Pecherskoe.1  After  passing  the  gardens  on  the  hill-top, 
we  reach  the  gate  and  bridge  of  the  fortifications  which 
Peter  the  Great,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mentchikoff, 
employed  himself  in  building  while  he  was  detained  at 
Kieff  in  1706.  The  street  within  is  quite  devoted  to  the 
pilgrims,  and  is  lined  with  stalls  of  crosses,  medals,  and 
icons,  many  exceedingly  pretty  and  very  cheap,  others 
only  curious.  The  hermit-saints,  Anthony,  Pachomius, 
and  Hilarion,  are  represented  over  and  over  again.  Such 
anchorites  as  these  passed  their  lives  in  caves,  or  in  little 
tents  or  cells.  When  many  of  them  were  collected 
together,  they  were  called  by  the  common  name  of  Lavra 
or  Laura.  Frequently  represented  also  is  St.  Paphuntius, 
the  hermit-confessor,  whose  speech  at  the  Council  of 

i  From  its  catacombs,  Petchera,  meaning  a  cavern  or  crypt. 


PECHERSKOE.  367 

Nicaea  led  to  the  permission,  almost  injunction,  of  mar- 
riage to  the  clergy  of  the  Eastern  Church.1 

Commonest  of  all  here,  however,  as  everywhere  else  in 
the  country,  is  the  picture  of  St.  Nicholas,  the  favorite 
saint  of  Russian  peasants.  Wallace  narrates  that  a 
peasant  being  asked  by  a  priest  if  he  could  name  the 
three  Persons  of  the  Trinity,  replied  without  a  moment's 
hesitation,  "  How  can  one  not  know  that,  Batiushka  ? 
Of  course  it  is  the  Saviour,  the  Mother  of  God,  and  St. 
Nicholas  the  miracle-worker." 

The  Pecker skoe  Lavra  is  the  Holy  Place  of  Russia  par 
excellence,  the  first  in  rank  of  all  Russian  monasteries,  and 
the  most  ancient  in  its  origin,  having  been  founded  in 
1055.  It  is  of  all  Russian  monasteries  the  one  which  has 
had  the  greatest  part  in  the  propagation  of  Christianity 
throughout  the  country,  and  was  the  nursery  whence 
have  issued  the  missionaries,  preachers,  and  the  first 
writers  of  Christian  Russia.3 

"  To  a  simple  and  poor  hermit  belongs  the  glory  of  having  been  the 
father  of  religious  celibacy  in  Russia,  and  of  having  made  his  own 
poor  retreat  a  nursery  for  the  monastic  life  ;  and  this  during  a  period 
both  of  many  external  alarms,  and  of  civil  feuds  caused  by  the  three 
sons  of  Yaroslaf,  who  purpled  with  gore  the  soil  of  Russia,  which 
was  only  preserved  by  the  prayers  of  St.  Anthony  and  St.  Theodosius. 
4  Many  monasteries,' says  Nestor,  as  he  is  describing  the  origin  of 
the  Pecherskoe  Lavra,  '  have  been  founded  by  princes  and  nobles, 
and  by  wealth,  but  they  are  not  such  as  have  been  founded  by  tears 
and  fasting,  and  prayer,  and  vigil ;  Anthony  had  neither  gold  nor 
silver,  but  he  procured  all  by  prayer  and  fasting.' 

"  It  is  very  remarkable  that  at  the  beginning  of  monasticism  in 
Russia  there  should  have  been  a  recurrence  of  the  names  of  those 
great  hermits  Hilarion,  Anthony,  and  Theodosius,  who  once  flour- 
ished in  the  deserts  of  Palestine  and  Egypt,  and  were  now  reflected, 
as  in  a  mirror,  in  the  pure  lives  of  their  Russian  imitators  and  name- 
sakes. The  metropolitan  Hilarion,  when  he  was  as  yet  only  priest  of 
the  church  of  the  Holy  Apostles  in  Berestof  the  favorite  residence  of 
the  Princes  Vladimir  and  Yaroslaf,  was  accustomed  to  retire  for  seclu- 
sion and  prayer  into  the  silent  forest  on  the  beautiful  banks  of  the 
Dnieper  ;  and  there,  having  taken  an  affection  to  a  certain  picturesque 
site  on  a  hill,  he  dug  himself  out  a  dark  cave  or  pesch,  the  germ  of 
the  future  Lavra,  and  of  all  the  religious  houses  of  Russia.  Not  long 
afterward  another  hermit  came  and  settled  himself  in  it,  for  the  place 
was  already  consecrated  by  the  holy  life  of  Hilarion. 

i  The  ancient  Lives  of  many  of  these  Russian  saints  (Pateriki)  so  little  known 
out  of  their  own  country,  but  so  much  venerated  there,  are  very  curious. 
9  Courriere,  Litterature  Contemporainc  en  Rustic. 


368  S  TUD1ES  IN  £  US  SI  A . 

"  A  man  named  Anthony,  a  native  of  Lubetch  (a  district  south  of 
Kieff)  visited  Mount  Athos,  and  wished  to  remain  there  as  a  monk  : 
but  the  hegumen  who  gave  him  the  tonsure,  as  if  foreseeing  his  lofty 
future,  insisted  on  his  returning  to  his  own  country.  The  humble 
Anthony  obeyed,  and  brought  with  him  the  benediction  of  the  Holy 
Mountain.  He  visited  all  the  monasteries  of  Kieff,  but  his  soul, 
thirsting  for  contemplation,  could  find  for  itself  no  resting-place  except 
in  the  deserted  cave  of  Hilarion.  There  Anthony  established  him- 
self, though,  during  the  forty  years  of  his  spiritual  life,  he  was  twice 
driven  away  by  the  disturbances  caused  him  by  the  princes  and  boyars, 
who  soon  discovered  that  he  was  living  in  the  woods  near  Kieff.  The 
Great  Prince  himself,  Isiaslaf,  the  son  of  Yaroslaf,  on  one  occasion 
paid  him  a  visit  with  his  suite  :  and  the  hermit  foretold  to  him,  and 
to  his  two  brothers,  their  disastrous  defeat  by  the  Poloftsi,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Alta.  Twelve  disciples  having  collected  around  him,  he 
set  Barlaam  over  them  as  hegumen,  and  gave  his  blessing  to  the  com- 
mencement of  a  wooden  church,  to  be  called  after  the  Rest  or  As- 
sumption of  the  Mother  of  God,  on  the  site  of  the  earlier  one,  which 
was  subterranean  :  but  he  himself,  to  avoid  the  interruptions  and  dis- 
quietude of  governing,  shut  himself  up  in  another  cell,  which  he  had 
excavated  at  a  little  distance,  and  there  spent  the  rest  of  his  days  in 
prayer.  But  in  the  meantime,  before  this  took  place,  when  the  Great 
Prince  had  taken  the  hegumen  Barlaam  to  preside  over  his  newly- 
founded  monastery  of  Demetrius,  Anthony  proposed  to  the  brethren 
for  their  superior  the  humble  Theodosius,  who  was  to  have  the  honor 
of  finally  establishing  the  monastery,  and  of  completing  the  blessed 
beginning  of  Anthony. 

44  Theodosius,  seeing  the  brethren  continually  multiplying  around 
him,  and  already  amounting  to  a  hundred,  wrote  out  for  them  the  Rule 
of  the  Studium  monastery,  the  strictest  of  all  in  Constantinople, 
which  a  monk,  who  came  with  George,  the  new  metropolitan,  had 
brought  with  him  from  that  city.  The  manner  in  which  the  monks 
were  to  chant,  the  bowings  and  prostrations,  the  reading  and  the 
whole  order  of  church  service,  and  even  their  diet,  was  fixed  by  this 
Rule  ;  Theodosius  added  to  it  a  supplement  which  consisted  of  spirit- 
ual instructions l  of  his  own,  on  praying  without  ceasing,  on  the 
means  of  preserving  one's  self  from  evil  thoughts,  on  mutual  charity, 
obedience,  and  diligence  in  labor  ;  and  it  passed  afterward  as  a  model 
into  all  the  religious  houses  of  our  country,  many  of  which  were 
founded  by  monks  from  the  Pecherskoe,  while  the  rest  looked 
up  to  it,  and  sought  to  imitate  so  illustrious  an  example." — Moura- 
vieff. 

On  reaching  the  gate  of  the  Lavra,  we  see  Anthony 
and  Theodosius,  with  all  their  hermit  followers,  in  fresco, 
led  by  the  Saviour,  who  blesses  the  monastery.2  Crowds 

1  The  Instructions  of  Theodosius  are  one  of  the  earliest  specimens  of  Russian 
literature  in  existence.     The  Life  of  St.  Theodosius  was  written  by  the  chronicler 
Nestor. 

2  A  curious  tiny  "  icon,"  sold  below  the  monastery,  represents  this  picture,  and 
serves  as  an  interesting  memento; 


PECHERSKOE.  369 

of  pilgrims  are  perpetually  passing  through  the  narrow 
portal,  and  linger  to  kiss  and  offer  their  kopecks  to  the 
picture  of  the  Rest  of  the  Virgin  (here  really  asleep), 
just  within  the  gate. 

We  now  find  ourselves  in  the  immense  court  of  the 
monastery.  The  low,  whitewashed  houses  of  the  monks 
line  the  sides.  Behind  are  vast  buildings  for  the  pil- 
grims. In  the  center  is  the  huge  church,  whitewashed 
also,  but  with  a  frescoed  front.  The  interior  has  an 
aspect  of  indescribable  antiquity,  color,  and  beauty.  The 
foundation  of  all  the  color  is  subdued  ancient  gold,  which 
gleams  through  the  dark  shadows  of  the  heavy  pillars  and 
arches  with  effects  of  light  and  shade  unspeakably  glori- 
ous. The  open  gates  of  the  iconastos  show  life-size 
figures  of  the  Apostles  within. 

"  With  the  assistance  of  Sviatoslaf  (grandson  of  Yaroslaf),  Theo- 
dosius  procured  skillful  workmen  from  Greece,  and  founded  the  spa- 
cious stone  church  of  the  Rest  of  the  Virgin,  in  the  place  of  the 
original  poor  one  of  wood.  But  like  nearly  all  great  founders,  who 
have  seldom  been  permitted  to  see  the  outward  magnificence  of  their 
foundations,  Theodosius  was  obliged  to  content  himself  with  the 
inward  beauty  of  the  Lavra,  and  departed  to  his  rest  in  the  cells 
which  he  had  dug  out  with  Anthony.  His  successors,  Stephen,  and 
Nikon,  the  great  assistant  of  Anthony,  continued  the  building,  which 
was  finished  by  the  hegumen  John,  and  consecrated  before  the  end  of 
the  reign  of  the  Great  Prince  Vsevolod  by  the  metropolitan  John  III. 
By  order  of  the  same  hegumen  the  annalist  Nestor  opened  the  cell  or 
cave  in  which  were  the  uncorrupted  relics  of  Theodosius,  and  an  as- 
sembly of  bishops  and  princes  solemnly  translated  them  into  the  new 
temple.  The  names  of  Anthony  and  Theodosius  began  to  be  invoked 
in  prayer  from  the  time  of  the  reign  of  Sviatopolk  as  the  guardians  of 
Kieff,  and  the  fathers  of  all  who  lived  a  life  of  religious  retirement  in 
our  country  ;  for  the  Lavra  shot  its  roots  deep  into  the  soil  of  Russia, 
and  its  beneficent  influence  showed  itself  not  only  in  monastic  seclu- 
sion, but  also  in  the  halls  of  princes  and  on  the  thrones  of  prelates. 
It  gave  its  monks  to  the  Church  ;  Stephen  to  be  bishop  of  Belgorod, 
St.  Isaiah  to  be  the  first  illuminator  of  Rostoff,  St.  Nicetas  to  be  Lord 
of  Novogorod,  and,  according  to  some  accounts,  Ephraim  to  be 
metropolitan  of  all  Russia.  Some  of  them  preached  the  name  of 
Christ  to  the  heathen,  and  died  the  death  of  martyrs  ;  as  Gerasimus, 
the  first  illuminator  of  the  savage  Vess  in  the  northern  districts,  as 
Kouksha  and  Pimen,  who  suffered  for  the  Word  of  God  on  the  banks 
of  the  Oka,  while  engaged  in  the  conversion  of  the  Viatichi.  Others, 
whose  names  are  too  many  to  be  remembered,  and  whose  uncorrupted 
bodies  still  tenant  the  same  caves,  supplied  examples  in  their  seclusion 
of  the  practice  of  all  the  virtues.  Among  these  latter  was  a  son  of 
Nicholas,  Prince  of  Chernigoff,  who  was  surnamed  the  Devout  from 


37°  S  TUDIES  IN  R  US  SI  A . 

his  sanctity  and  humility.  He,  however,  was  not  the  first  of  the  Rus- 
sian princes  who  adopted  the  monastic  life  ;  Soudeslaf,  the  unfortu- 
nate son  of  the  great  Vladimir,  who  was  thrown  into  prison  at  Pskoff 
by  his  brother  Yaroslaf,  and  after  twenty-eight  years'  confinement 
was  set  at  liberty  by  his  nephews,  received  the  tonsure  in  the 
monastery  at  Kieff  before  any  other  of  his  rank,  and  so  became 
the  first  of  the  line  of  princely  recluses  of  our  country." — Moiira- 
vieff. 

All  day  long  the  church  is  thronged  with  pilgrims, 
sometimes  passing  in  a  crowd  through  the  portals,  of  all 
ages,  colors,  and  costumes.  Soft  litanies  swell  from 
distant  chapels.  We  seem  to  be  witnessing  a  perpetual 
diorama  of  scenes  of  Old  Testament  history  ;  such  patri- 
archal figures — Abraham,  Isaac,  Eli,  Jeremiah,  pass 
before  one  ;  such  rapt  reverence  is  seen  in  widowed 
mothers  offering  their  children  before  the  shrines,  or  in 
peasant  women  leading  up  their  little  ones  to  make  their 
oblations,  as  recall  Hannah  and  Samuel ;  such  groups  of 
shepherds  pass  us,  as  might  stand  for  the  twelve  sons  of 
Jacob,  or  the  brethren  of  David. 

In  and  out,  among  the  changing  multitude,  flit  the 
priests  with  their  flowing  hair,  or  hair  plaited  into  long 
pig-tails,  and  the  strange  figures  of  begging  nuns  in  black 
robes  and  peaked  hoods.  In  this  Mecca  of  the  Greek 
Orthodox,  there  are  300,000  pilgrims  annually.  At  the 
festivals  of  Trinity  and  the  Assumption,  thousands  sleep 
in  the  woods.  On  the  night  of  August  15,  1872,  there 
were  72,000  sleeping  upon  the  bare  ground.  The 
cholera,  when  it  comes  here,  makes  terrible  ravages.  In 
years  of  famine,  the  number  of  pilgrims  is  doubled, 
because  a  visit  to  the  Lavra  authorizes  them  to  beg  for 
the  bread  which  is  wanting  at  home.  In  the  time  of  serf- 
dom, runaway  serfs  always  became  pilgrims  ;  they  had 
then  a  ready  excuse  for  their  wanderings,  and  could 
always  obtain  alms  for  subsistence. 

The  chief  concourse  of  people  is  around  those  ancient 
tombs,  often  hung  with  gold  or  silver  cloth  and  sur- 
rounded with  burning  candles,  of  which  the  priest  holds 
up  the  silver  lid  for  an  instant,  that  the  worshipers  may 
behold  the  uncorrupt  body  of  the  saint  within.  This 
sign  of  sanctity  has  been  the  ground  of  all,  or  nearly  all, 
the  canonizations  of  the  Greek  Church.  "  His  uncor- 
rupt remains  were  found,"  almost  answers  in  the  Greek 


PECHERSKOE. 


371 


Church,  to  "  he  was  canonized  "  in  the  Latin,  and  in  jus- 
tification of  this  are  quoted  these  words  of  the  Psalm, 
which  strictly  apply  only  to  our  Saviour  :  "  Thou  wilt  not 
suffer  thine  Holy  One  to  see  corruption." 

In  the  sacristy  a  number  of  curious  relics,  chiefly 
ecclesiastical  vestments  and  plate,  are  shown.  The 
church  has  several  crypts.  In  one  of  them  Rumiantsof 
is  buried.  In  another  the  incorruptible  remains  of  Paul 
of  Tobolsk  repose  in  miter  and  robes.  His  coffin  is 
opened  for  visitors,  one  rich  covering  after  another 
removed,  and  the  aged  face  and  hands  exposed  under  a 
veil. 


THE    HOLY    PLACES   OF    KIEFF. 


Till  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  there  were 
only  two  printing-presses  in  Russia  ;  one  was  in  this 
convent,  and  one  at  Moscow.1 

Outside  the  lower  gate  of  the  monastery,  a  gate  near 
the  icon-shops  leads  to  the  open  downs,  looking  upon 
the  faint  pink  and  blue  distances  of  the  vast  plain  beyond 
the  Dnieper.  We  saw  here  processions  of  departing 
pilgrims,  whose  litanies  long  sounded  through  the  woods  ; 
and  a  Greek  priest,  with  flowing  hair,  stood  on  the  edge 
of  the  cliff  watching  them,  relieved  like  a  statue 
against  the  aerial  distance. 

i  By  1720  there  were  four  at  St.  Petersburg  and  two  at  Moscow,  and  there  were 
also  printing-presses  at  Novogorod  and  Tchernigov. 


372  STUDIES  IN  R USSIA. 

The   scene   is    one    which  recalls  the  verses  of  Ivan 
Kozlov  : 

' '  O  holy  Kieff  !  where  religion  seems 

To  light  a  beacon  for  the  Russian  race, 
Where  the  bright  cross  on  Pecherskoe  gleams 

Like  a  fair  star  which  still  in  heaven  hath  place, 
And  shines  where,  melting  into  distant  air, 

Thy  boundless  pastures  in  the  sunshine  glow, 
And  restless  Dnieper,  hastening  to  the  sea, 

Beneath  thine  ancient  rampart  murmurs  low." 

The  star-spangled  towers  and  domes  which  rise  from 
the   woods   eastward  are  those  of  a  separate  group  of 


BENEATH  THE   PECHERSKOE   MONASTERY. 


monastic  buildings  approached  from  the  principal  mon- 
astery by  a  gourd -fringed  lane.  Here  are  another 
church,  a  little  cemetery,  and  the  entrance  of  a  long 
wooden  gallery,  by  which  the  pilgrims,  protected  from 
weather,  can  go  from  one  monastic  building  to  another. 
We  constantly  attempted  to  draw  here  and  were  inter- 
rupted by  infuriated  priests  ;  indeed,  while  taking  each 
of  the  sketches  from  which  the  little  woodcuts  given  in 
these  pages  are  taken,  the  author  was  arrested,  and  car- 
ried off  to  a  short  incarceration.  No  amount  of  interest 


THE  CA  TA  COMBS  OF  KIEFF.  373 

with  either  civil  or  ecclesiastical  officials  can  obtain  the 
permission  to  draw  in  Pecherskoe,  and  anywhere  in 
Kieff  it  is  most  difficult. 

Through  the  Church  of  the  Exaltation  we  descend  to 
the  catacombs.1  A  monk  guides  us  with  candles.  Like 
the  Roman  Catacombs  (in  extremest  miniature),  these 
subterraneous  passages  are  perfectly  dry,  warm,  airy,  and 
not  the  least  unpleasant.  There  are  two  series  of  caverns, 
the  nearer  dedicated  to  St.  Andrew,  the  further  to  St. 
Theodosius.  They  were  probably  natural  caverns  at 
the  first,  and  have  been  increased  into  a  series  of 
chapels  and  passages  in  the  course  of  ages.  They  are 
regular  in  formation,  but  have  such  frequent  intersec- 
tions that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  spend  five  minutes  in 
them  without  losing  one's  way.  On  either  side,  at 
intervals,  hollowed  in  the  soft  rock,  are  tombs  of  the 
saints,  of  whom  there  are  about  eighty  in  the  nearer,  and 
forty-five  in  the  more  distant  catacombs.  The  lids  are 
left  open  in  some  instances,  and  the  outlines  of  the  aged 
forms  are  visible  beneath  their  brocaded  coverings. 
Formerly  the  bodies  were  uncovered.  Travelers  speak 
of  the  color  of  their  faces  and  hands,  now  only  one  offers 
his  withered  black  hand  to  the  kisses  of  the  faithful. 
After  six  centuries  these  bodies  are  said  to  be  perfectly 
preserved,  the  "  incorruptibility "  of  saints  being  the 
reward  of  their  virtues. 

"Ce  meme  reduit,  qui  avait  etc  leur  cellule,  est  devenu  leur  torn- 
beau  ;  c'est  la  qu'ils  sont  couches  dans  leur  robe  de  moine,  avec  leurs 
cilices  et  leurs  chaines  de  fer,  attendant  la  trompette  du  jugement. 
Le  plus  etonnant  de  tous  ces  ascetes,  c'est  Jean,  le  'grand-martyr.' 
Pour  dompter  sa  chair,  bien  qu'il  restat  des  semaines  sans  manger,  il 
avait  imagine  de  s'enterrer  jusqu'a  mi-corps  ;  c'est  dans  cette  situation 
que  la  mort  1'a  surpris  et  que  nous  le  retrouvons.  Rien  d'effrayant 
comme  de  voir  dans  1'ombre  de  cette  caverne  cette  tete  et  ce  buste 
sortir  de  terre.  Les  penitents  de  la  Theba'ide  et  les  fakirs  de 
1'Hindoustan  n'ont  rien  invente  de  plus  formidable.  Le  caractere 
oriental  de  ces  tortures  volontaires  eclate  aux  yeux  ;  il  semble  voir, 
comme  dans  le  Ramaydna,  le  ciel  et  la  terre  contempler  stupefaits  ces 
terribles  penitences,  et  les  dieux  memes  tremblant  qu'a  force 
d'accumuler  des  merites  1'anachorete  ne  finisse  par  leur  disputer  le  ciel. 
Les  mougiks  de  Kief  se  sont  fait  une  legende  a  son  propos  :  ils  as- 
surent  que  Jean  s'enfonce  cliaque  jour  en  terre,  et  que,  lorsqu'il  y 
disparaitra,  cesera  la  fin  du  monde." — A.  Rambaud,  "  Revue  des  deux 
Mondes"  1874. 

i  There  is  a  very  similar  cave-monastery  at  Pskoff. 


374  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

Near  each  tomb  is  inscribed  the  name  of  the  dead, 
with  a  brief  description  of  what  he  was  when  he  was 
living.  Thus  we  find  St.  Anthony,  the  abbot  of  the  Lavra  ; 
St.  Niphontius,  archbishop  of  Novogorod,  who  died  on  his 
way  to  meet  the  metropolitan  of  Constantinople  ;  St. 
Luke,  the  thrifty ;  St.  Gregory,  the  icon-painter  ;  St. 
Agapitus,  the  gratuitous  physician  ;  St.  Mark,  the  cata- 
comb-digger ;  St.  Onesiphorus,  the  confessor  ;  St.  Jerome, 
the  far-sighted  prophet ;  St.  Onofrius,  the  silent ;  St. 
Pimenus,  the  faster  ;  St.  Abraham,  the  laborious  ;  St. 
Isaac,  the  miracle-worker. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  graves  is  that  of  Nestor, 
the  chronicler,  who  lived  from  1056  to  1116,  and  became 
a  monk  here  in  his  seventeenth  year.  He  occupies  much 
the  same  place  in  the  history  of  Russia  which  the  Vener- 
able Bede  holds  in  our  own.  He  ought  not  to  be  regarded 
as  the  first  Russian  annalist,  but  rather  as  the  first 
compiler  of  the  collections  of  chronicles  which  already 
existed  in  the  great  centers  of  primitive  Russia.  The 
work  of  Nestor  has  not  come  down  to  us  in  its  original 
form,  the  most  ancient  of  its  copies  only  dating  from  the 
fourteenth  century.1  His  great  merit  is  that  he  hands 
down  to  posterity  the  early  history  of  the  house  of  Rurik 
and  of  the  first  great  Princes  of  Kieff.  His  chronicle  is 
a  strange  mixture  of  important  and  trivial  events,  like  the 
writings  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.8 

It  is  a  surprise  to  come,  in  the  catacombs  of  Kieff,  upon 
the  tomb  of  Ilia  Mourometz,  a  hero  of  the  time  of  Vladi- 
mir, celebrated  in  innumerable  legends  and  songs,  which 
describe  him  as  the  Hercules,  the  Samson  of  Russia,  who 
is  here  become  a  saint.  It  is  also  with  an  aureole  on  his 
forehead,  hands  lifted  to  heaven,  and  a  body  half-naked 
like  a  hermit,  that  he  is  represented  in  an  engraving  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  He  is  supposed  to  have  been 
born  in  the  village  of  Karatchovo,  and  to  have  had  a  real 
existence  in  the  twelfth  century. 

"  Ses  reliques  sont  aujourd'hui  cousues  dans  une  sorte  de  gaine  en 
brocard  ;  mais  anciennement,  comme  celles  des  autres  saints  des  cata- 
combes,  on  les  exposait  aux  regards  du  public.  Un  pelerin  de  1701 
les  a  vues  et  touchees  :  'J'aivu,  dit-il,  sous  une  voile  d'or,  le  corps 

1  Courriere. 

2  See  the  Chronicles  of  Nestor,  edited  by  Miklosich.     Vienna,  1860. 


THE  CA  TA  COMBS  OF  KIEFF. 


375 


incorruptible  du  vaillant  guerrier  Ilia  de  Mourom.  Sa  taille  est  celle 
des  gens  robustes  d'aujourd'hui.  sa  main  gauche  est  disposee  comme 
pour  faire  le  signe  de  la  croix.'  Le  voila  reduit  a  de  bien  humaines 
proportions,  le  heros  qui,  d'un  poignet  si  fort,  arrachait  tons  les  chenes 
d'une  foret  et  maniait  aise'ment  une  massue  de  1600  livres.  .  .  Son 
droit  a  la  saintete  est  acquis  par  le  fait  qu'il  a  souvent  pris  les  armes 
uniqueraent  '  pour  le  peuple  chretien  et  pour  les  eglises  de  Dieu.'  " — 
Rambaud,  "  La  Russie  Epique." 

About  many  of  the  tombs  singular  legends  are  pre- 
served. There  is  one  of  two  brothers.  They  had 
promised  one  another  to  share  the  same  grave.  One 


THE   HOLY  CHAPEL  OF  KIEFF. 


died  long  after  the  other,  but  when  his  body  was  carried 
to  the  sepulcher,  the  brother  who  was  buried  first  lifted 
himself  up  in  his  coffin,  and  made  room  for  him.  There 
is  the  tomb  of  a  bishop  which  is  said  to  have  floated  on 
the  Dnieper  to  the-walls  of  the  monastery  from  Smolensk, 
where  he  died.  In  one  sarcophagus  rest  twelve  masons, 
who  came  to  build  the  monastery,  and,  after  their  work 
was  finished,  received  the  tonsure  there.  Here  also  are 
miraculous  skulls  which  sweat  a  supernatural  oil  which  is 
a  cure  for  all  maladies,  and  a  column  which  has  the 
power  of  restoring  reason  to  any  mad  people  who  are 


376  STUDIES  IN~  RUSSIA. 

bound  to  it.  A  reality  more  strange  than  any  legends, 
are  the  cells  without  any  opening.  They  were  made  by 
anchorites,  who  walled  themselves  up  with  their  own 
hands,  keeping  up  no  communication  with  the  outer 
world,  or  even  with  their  religious  brethren,  except  by 
the  wicket  through  which  their  daily  provisions  were 
given  them.  When  they  died,  which  was  naturally  very 
soon,  the  community  came  to  this  wicket,  said  the  prayers 
for  the  dead,  and  walled  it  up. 

From  time  to  time  the  catacomb  enlarges,  and  one 
finds  one's  self  in  a  little  church  with  a  low  vault  and  minia- 
ture iconastos,  or  in  a  vault  which  has,  for  its  situation, 
the  singular  destination  of  a  refectory.  Here  is  pre- 
served an  antique  cross  of  which  the  edges  are  raised  so 
that  it  forms  a  drinking-cup,  and  which  is  called  the  cup 
of  St.  Mark  the  gravedigger.  In  the  further  catacomb  is 
the  body  of  a  princess  in  satin  shoes,  as  if  emerging  from 
a  ball,  but  which  partakes  with  those  of  the  monks  the 
privilege  of  incorruptibility.1 

In  the  wooded  hollow  beneath  the  catacombs  is  the 
holy  well  of  the  hermit  St.  Anthony,  believed  to  have 
miraculous  powers,  reached  by  wooden  steps  from  the 
porch  of  the  church. 

Below  the  lavra  is  the  mound  called  Askold's  tomb, 
where  a  Christian  Varagian  prince  is  buried. 

"  Two  of  the  compatriots  of  Rurik,  Askold  and  Dir,  who  perhaps 
had  cause  of  complaint  against  that  prince,  left  Novogorod,  with  many 
of  their  companions,  to  seek  their  fortunes  at  Constantinople.  But,  on 
their  way,  they  perceived  a  little  town  built  on  the  highest  part  of  the 
bank  of  the  Dnieper,  and  inquired  to  whom  it  belonged.  They  were 
informed  that  it  had  been  founded  by  three  brothers,  long  since  dead, 
and  that  it  was  inhabited  by  a  peaceful  people,  who  paid  tribute  to  the 
Khozars  :  this  town  was  Kieff.  Askold  and  Dir  took  possession  of  it. 
and  began,  under  the  name  of  Russians,  to  reign  as  sovereigns  in 
Kieff.  ...  In  882,  the  ambitious  views  of  Oleg,  regent  at  Novogorod 
during  the  minority  of  his  nephew  Igor,  son  of  Rurik,  was  excited  by 
the  report  of  the  independent  power  which  Askold  and  Dir  had 
founded,  as  well  as  by  the  delicious  climate  and  other  advantages  of 
the  soil  which  Little  Russia  offered.  Meanwhile,  as  it  was  possible 
that  Askold  and  Dir,  at  the  head  of  a  strong  army,  would  not  freely 
submit,  and  as  the  idea  was  obnoxious  of  a  battle  with  fellow-country- 
men equally  skilled  in  the  art  of  war,  Oleg  determined  to  employ 

i  This  account  of  the  catacombs  is  chiefly  indebted  to  the  writings  of  Alfred 
Rambaud.  This  is  especially  the  case  as  regards  the  names,  so  difficult  to  make  out 
to  one  very  slightly  acquainted^  with  Russian. 


PERENOTO  TSVETJE.  377 

treachery.  Having  left  his  army  behind  him,  accompanied  only  by 
the  younger  Igor  and  several  followers,  he  landed  under  the  steep  bank 
of  the  Dnieper,  where  the  ancient  Kieff  was  situated.  Having  taken 
the  precaution  of  concealing  his  soldiers  in  the  boats,  he  sent  word  to 
the  princes  of  Kieff  that  some  Varagian  merchants,  sent  to  Greece  by 
the  prince  of  Novogorod,  wished  to  see  them  as  friends  and  fellow- 
countrymen.  Askold  and  Dir,  not  suspecting  any  ambush,  hastened 
to  the  shore.  In  an  instant  they  vere  surrounded  by  the  men  o/Oleg, 
who  cried,  '  You  are  no  princes,  nor  even  of  noble  birth  ;  but  I  am 
a  prince,  and,' showing  them  Igor,  'this  is  the  son  of  Rurik.'  At 
these  words,  which  were  their  sentence  of  death,  Askold  and  Dir, 
pierced  by  blows,  fell  lifeless  at  the  feet  of  Oleg.  The  simplicity  of 
manners  in  the  ninth  century  permits  one  to  believe  that  these  false 
merchants  could  thus  persuade  the  princes  of  Kieff  to  come  to  meet 
them  ;  but  even  the  barbarism  which  was  common  at  this  period  could 
not  excuse  such  perfidious  treachery.  The  bodies  of  the  unfortunate 
princes  were  buried  on  the  hill,  where,  in  the  time  of  Nestor,  the 
castle  of  a  certain  Olma  existed.  The  bones  of  Dir  reposed  behind 
the  Church  of  St.  Irene,  and  upon  the  tomb  of  Askold  rose  the 
Church  of  St.  Nicholas,  the  site  of  which  is  still  shown  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Kieff  on  the  bank  of  the  Dnieper,  below  the  monastery  of  St. 
Nicholas,  at  the  spot  where  a  little  church  is  seen  buried  in  the  earth." 
— Karamsin,  vol.  i. 


Beyond  the  Pecherskoe  monastery  are  many  of  "  the 
lovely  lanes  of  Kieff  overshadowed  by  cherry  gardens  " 
described  by  Gogol.  Near  the  river  bank  grows  the  fern 
called  Perenovo  Tsvetje,  or  Peroun's  Flower,  and  which 
is  supposed  to  have  magic  blossoms,  which  appear  on 
Easter  Day  and  St.  John's  Day  at  midsummer. 

"  Its  golden  or  fiery  blossoms  disappear  almost  instantaneously,  for 
evil  spirits  swarm  thickly  around  them  and  carry  them  off.  Whoever 
can  gather  these  flowers  will  be  able  to  read  the  secrets  of  the  earth, 
and  no  treasures  can  be  concealed  from  him.  But  to  obtain  them  is  a 
difficult  task.  The  best  way  is  to  take  a  cloth  on  which  an  Easter 
cake  has  been  blessed,  and  the  knife  with  which  the  cake  has  been  cut, 
and  then  go  into  the  forest  on  Easter  Eve,  trace  a  circle  with  the  knife 
around  the  fern,  spread  out  the  cloth,  and  sit  down  within  the  circle 
with  eyes  steadily  fixed  upon  the  plant.  Just  at  the  moment  when  the 
words  '  Christ  is  arisen  ! '  are  sung  in  the  churches,  the  fern  will 
blossom.  The  watcher  should  then  seize  it  and  rush  home,  having 
covered  himself  with  the  cloth,  and  taking  care  not  to  look  behind 
him.  When  he  has  reached  home  he  should  cut  his  hand  with  the 
knife,  and  insert  the  plant  into  the  wound.  Then  all  secret  things 
will  become  visible  to  him. " — Ralston,  ' '  Songs  of  the  Russian  People. " 

Among  the  many  traces  of  the  old  religion  which  still 


STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

remain  at  Kieff  is  one  which  recalls  the  worship  of  Lada, 
the  goddess  of  Joy,  Love,  and  Spring,  to  whom  betrothed 
couples  used  to  offer  sacrifice. 

"  In  Lithuania  and  in  Samogitia  the  people  celebrated  in  her  honor 
festivals,  which  lasted  from  May  25  to  June  25  ;  the  fathers  and  hus- 
bands spent  them  in  the  public  houses,  the  wives  and  daughters  in  the 
streets  or  in  the  midst  of  the  fields  :  they  held  each  other  by  the  hand 
and  danced,  singing,  '  Lada  /  Lada  /  didiz  Lada  /' ' — that  is  to  say, 
'great  Lada!'  This  custom  still  exists  in  our  villages,  where  the 
young  women  assemble  in  the  spring-time  to  amuse  themselves,  and 
sing  in  a  circle,  Lada,  didi  Lada  /  " — Karamsin. 

The  twenty-fourth  of  December  was  the  day  on  which 
the  pagan  Russians  celebrated  the  feast  of  Koliada,  the 
goddess  of  Peace,  and  still  on  Christmas  Eve,  when 
laborers'  children  assemble  under  the  windows  of  rich 
peasants,  they  ask  for  money  with  songs  in  which  the  name 
of  Koliada  is  still  heard.2 

Ten  kilometers  from  Kieff  are  the  curious  kourgans  of 
Gatnoe.  One  of  these,  called  the  "  Wolf's  Grave,"  was 
opened  during  the  Archaeological  Congress  of  1874.  Skel- 
etons, vases,  and  implements  were  found.  Hundreds, 
even  thousands,  of  these  tumuli  are  seen  in  descending 
the  Dnieper,  of  which  the  flat,  sandy  banks  and  colorless 
waters  might  otherwise  seem  uninteresting,  though  Gogol 
teaches  us  how  to  see  their  beauties  : — 

"  How  delightful  it  is,  from  the  midst  of  the  Dnieper,  to  gaze  upon 
the  lofty  hills,  the  vast  prairies,  and  the  verdant  forests  !  These  hills 
are  not  hills  :  they  have  no  base  :  below,  as  above,  they  have  a  pointed 
summit ;  below,  as  above,  is  seen  the  limitless  sky.  The  forests  which 
are  marshaled  on  these  hills  are  not  forests  :  they  are  the  hair  which 
has  grown  from  the  huge  head  of  a  wood  demon.  Below,  his  beard 
floats  upon  the  water,  and  under  his  beard,  as  over  his  hair,  the  limit- 
less sky  is  seen.  These  prairies  are  not  prairies  :  it  is  a  green  girdle 
which  encircles  the  round  heaven  ;  and  below,  as  above,  shimmers  the 
moon." 

The  village  of  Vitatchevo,  in  an  angle  of  the  river,  has 
earthen  ramparts  :  the  bank  has  a  height  of  400  feet. 
Further  on,  beneath  the  site  of  the  convent  of  Traktomirof^ 
living  persons  have  seen  catacombs  filled  with  the  tombs 
of  hermits,  but  their  entrance  is  lost.  Vychegorod,  which 
is  said  to  have  owed  its  existence  to  a  brother  of  the  fab- 

i  St.  Parascevia  is  regarded  as  the  Christian  successor  of  Lada. 
•z  See  Karamsin. 


VYCHEGOROD.  379 

ulous  Kii,  the  founder  of  Kieff,  was  a  favorite  residence 
of  St.  Olga,  the  Christian  grandmother  of  Vladimir,  and 
was  the  place  where,  before  his  conversion,  he  kept  a 
harem  of  500  women.  Here  Boris  and  Gleb,  the  two 
sons  of  Vladimir  by  one  of  his  many  wives,  murdered  by 
their  brother  Sviatopolk,  were  buried.  Their  deaths  took 
place  at  different  times  and  places — that  of  Boris  in  his 
camp  on  the  Alta  while  he  was  in  the  act  of  prayer,  that 
of  Gleb  in  a  boat  on  the  Dnieper  near  Smolensk  1 — but 
the  Church  has  made  of  them  an  orthodox  Dioscuri,  as 
inseparable  as  Castor  and  Pollux. 

It  was  at  Vychegorod  that  the  great  Yaroslaf  died  in 
1054,  employing  his  last  moments  in  imploring  his  children 
to  evade  the  dissensions  which  have  been  so  often  fatal 
to  his  family  and  country.  Here  also  the  Grand  Prince 
Vsevolod  Olgovitch  died  in  1146,  having  in  vain  invoked 
the  succor  of  Boris  and  Gleb  ;  and  the  Grand  Prince 
Sviatoslaf  in  1195,  having  caused  himself  to  be  brought 
hither  from  Kieff  with  the  same  object. 

The  gorodichtche  have  bricks  of  the  seventh  century, 
which  may  have  belonged  to  the  palace  of  Olga.  The 
adjoining  church  was  dedicated  to  the  two  brothers  by 
Ysiaslaf,  the  ancient  church  of  Yaroslaf  having  been 
destroyed  by  the  pagans,  and  their  relics  were  brought 
hither  on  the  shoulders  of  the  princes  of  the  royal  house. 
The  picture  of  Christ  on  the  iconastos  bears  the  mark  of 
a  Tartar  lance  ;  the  Madonna  which  was  its  pendant,  cut 
through  with  a  saber,  is  now  in  one  of  the  churches  of 
Kieff. 

"  Le  village  moderne  est  bien  aussi  curieux  que  \tgarodichtckl. 
Qu'on  imagine  un  terrain  decoupe,  dechiquete  par  les  ravins,  des 
masures  a  toits  de  chaume  plus  herisses  encore  que  dans  la  Grande- 
Russie,  les  enclos  formes  de  claies  d'osier,  de  derriere  lesquels  vous 
epient  des  jeunes  filles  aux  yeux  noirs  avec  une  botte  de  fleurs  arti- 
ficielles  sur  la  tete,  des  vieilles  qui  parcourent  a  fond  de  train  des  families 
de  pourceaux  a  1'air  farouche,  et  qui  ont  une  criniere  comme  les  sangliers 
— voila  le  type  de  tous  les  villages  que  nous  avons  visites  sur  le 
Dnieper." — A.  Rambaud,  "Revue  des  Deux  Mondes"  l874.2 

Near  Kieff  the  land  is  sterile,  but  further  away  the 
vegetation  is  so  luxuriant  in  the  early  summer  that  one 

i   Karamsin. 

z  See  also  The  A  ncient  Towns  and  GorodichtcJte  of  Russia,  by  M.  Somokvassof. 
Moscow,  1874. 


3^0  STUDIES  IN-  R  USSIA . 

may  be  lost  in  the  verdure.  Popular  poetry  describes  the 
joy  of  the  Cossack  as  he  gallops  over  the  grassy  sea,  with 
only  the  sun  to  guide  him. 

"  The  steppe  had  long  ago  received  them  in  its  green  embrace  ;  and 
its  high  grass,  encircling  them,  had  hidden  them  so  that  only  their 
black  Cossacks'  caps  were  now  and  then  to  be  seen  above  it. — Gogdl, 
' '  Tarass  Boolba. "  1 

The  charm  and  yet  the  oppressive  monotony  of  the 
steppe  are  expressed  by  the  poet  Koltsov  (1809-1842)  : — 

"  The  steppe  had  a  fresh  fascination  for  me,  and  the  devil  knows 
how  madly  I  loved  her.  How  beautiful  she  was,  and  with  what 
enthusiasm  I  sang  '  The  Time  of  Love.'  This  song  was  appropriate 
to  her.  But  later  on  the  steppe  wearied  me.  She  delights  fora  time  ; 
suddenly,  but  not  for  long.  I  came  to  see  her  ;  then  I  went  back  to 
the  town,  to  the  whirl  of  life,  to  the  strife  of  passions  !  For  the  steppe 
by  herself  is  too  uniform,  too  silent." 

Here  in  Southern  Russia,  the  nights  of  summer  are  far 
more  beautiful  than  the  days  : — 

"  Do  you  know  the  nights  of  the  Ukraine  ?  No,  you  do  not  know 
them  !  See  !  the  moon  looks  down  from  the  midst  of  heaven,  the 
infinite  celestial  vault  extends,  increases,  and  becomes  yet  more  infi- 
nite ;  it  burns  and  breathes  ;  all  the  earth  gleams  with  silvery  luster  ; 
the  air  is  wonderful,  at  once  fresh  and  overpowering,  full  of  sweet- 
ness ;  it  is  an  ocean  of  perfumes.  Divine  night  !  magical  night  ! 
The  forests,  full  of  shade,  are  motionless,  and  cast  iheir  vast  shadows. 
The  pools  are  calm  ;  the  cold  and  darkness  of  their  waters  lie  mourn- 
fully inclosed  in  the  dark  green  walls  of  the  gardens.  The  virgin 
thickets  of  young  cherry  trees  timidly  stretch  their  roots  into  the  chill 
earth,  and  from  time  to  time  shake  their  leaves,  as  if  they  were  angry 
and  indignant  that  beautiful  Zephyr,  the  wind  of  night,  glides  sud- 
denly toward  them  and  covers  them  with  kisses.  All  the  landscape 
sleeps.  On  high  all  breathes,  all  is  beautiful,  solemn.  The  vastness 
and  wonclrousness  possess  the  soul  ;  and  crowds  of  silvery  visions 
emerge  softly  from  their  hiding-places.  Divine  night  !  Magical 
night  !  Suddenly,  all  comes  to  life:  the  forests,  the  pools,  the  steppes. 
The  majestic  voice  of  the  nightingale  of  the  Ukraine  sounds 
forth,  and  it  seems  as  if  the  moon,  to  listen  to  it,  stood  still  in  the 
midst  of  the  heaven.  The  village,  as  if  entranced,  reposes  upon  the 
height ;  the  group  of  cottages  becomes  more  luminous  under  the  rays 
of  the  moon  ;  their  low  walls  become  more  brilliantly  relieved  against 
the  darkness.  Now  the  song  has  ceased.  All  is  silent.  Some  nar- 
row windows  are  still  lighted  up.  Behind  others,  a  family,  up  late,  is 
at  supper. " — Gogdl. 

i  Cossack  Tales  of  Nicholas  Gogol.    Translated  by  George  Tolstoy. 


CUSTOMS  OF  THE  UKRAINE.  381 

Many  of  the  popular  customs  still  observed  in  the 
Ukraine  are  very  interesting. 

"  The  marriage  ceremonies  are  very  peculiar  :  the  bride  chooses  a 
number  of  pretty  young  girls,  who  are  obliged  to  be  present  and  offi- 
ciate :  they  carry  wax-lights  fastened  upon  small  boards,  one  end  of 
which  is  cut  into  the  shape  of  a  horse's  head  and  ornamented  with 
flowers  ;  the  lights  continue  burning  till  they  bring  the  bride  to  the 
house  of  her  husband,  when  all  are  extinguished. 

"  At  funerals  the  church  bells  are  rung,  and  the  dead  are  carried 
to  the  grave  with  flags  flying.  There  are  often  no  cemeteries,  and 
the  bodies  are  buried  in  the  gardens.  In  the  churchyards  in  towns 
the  graves  are  often  walled  by  crosses  four  or  five  feet  high. 

"All  kinds  of  charms  are  used,  and  witchcraft  is  practiced  :  man- 
ners and  customs,  perhaps  as  old  as  the  people  themselves,  have  been 
retained,  some  of  them  probably  from  heathen  times.  Thus,  for  in- 
stance, on  Kassali,  or  Midsummer  Eve  (the  evening  before  St.  John's 
Day),  the  young  girls,  decked  with  wreaths  of  flowers  and  grasses, 
assemble  beside  a  piece  of  water,  kindle  a  fire,  and  pace  round  it  sing- 
ing certain  songs,  and  then  jump  wildly  backward  and  forward 
through  the  flames.  In  winter,  as  soon  as  it  begins  to  freeze,  the 
young  people  and  children  walk  before  the  windows  begging  cakes 
and  nuts.  On  Christmas  Eve  (called  here,  as  in  the  old  Roman 
Catholic  parts  of  Germany,  Holy  Evening),  the  old  men  of  the  vil- 
lage, surrounded  by  the  rest  of  the  people,  sing  hymns  before  the 
windows  of  the  houses.  In  the  spring,  boys  and  girls  assemble  on 
the  first  spots  where  the  snow  has  disappeared,  and  sing  the  so-called 
Songs  of  Spring.  Generally  speaking,  there  are  peculiar  songs  for 
every  season  of  the  year,  which  are  sung  in  the  week-day  evenings, 
when  young  and  old  are  collected  together.  During  holidays, 
the  singing  is  nearly  incessant,  with  the  men,  however,  much  less 
than  with  the  women  and  children." — Haxthausen,  "  The  Russian 
Empire" 

In  every  thing  connected  with  religion  the  most  ex- 
traordinary simplicity  prevails,  but  it  is  not  irreverent. 

"  The  blacksmith  Vakoola  had  painted  the  devil  in  hell  upon  the 
wall  which  is  to  your  left  when  you  step  into  the  church.  The  devil 
had  such  an  odious  face  that  no  one  could  refrain  from  spitting  as 
they  passed  by.  The  women,  as  soon  as  their  children  began  to  cry, 
brought  them  to  this  picture  and  said,  '  Look  !  is  he  not  an  odious 
creature?'  and  the  children  stopped  their  tears,  looked  sidewise  at 
this  picture,  and  clung  more  closely  to  their  mother's  bosom. " — Gogdl, 
"  Night  of  Christmas  £ve." 

The  fireflies,  so  beautiful  at  night,  are  looked  upon  as 
the  souls  of  unbaptized  children.  Through  the  steppes 
are  supposed  to  roam  the  terrible  werewolves — human 
creatures,  often  witches,  transformed  into  animals  ;  to 


382  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

them  storms,  famines,  and  droughts  are  often  attributed. 
There  is  a  tradition  that  if  a  werewolf  can  be  touched 
with  a  pitchfork  or  a  flail,  he.  immediately  assumes  his 
human  form.1 

Throughout  Little'  Russia  the  peasants  express  to 
each  other  the  kindly  wish,  "  God  grant  that  the  earth 
may  lie  light  on  you,  and  that  your  eyes  may  see 
Christ."  2 

The  songs  of  the  Little  Russians  are  full  of  human 
feeling. 

"  Les  habitants  de  1'Ukraine,  vetus  de  rouge,  vinrent  nous  chanter 
des  airs  de  leur  pays,  singulierement  agreables,  tantot  gais,  tantot 
melancoliques,  tantot  1'un  et  1'autre  tout  ensemble.  Ces  airs  cessent 
quelquefois  brusquement  au  milieu  de  la  melodic,  comme  si  1'imagina- 
tion  de  ces  peuples  se  fatiguait  a  terminer  ce  qui  lui  plaisait  d'abord 
ou  trouvait  plus  piquant  de  suspendre  le  charme  dans  le  moment 
meme  oil  il  s'agit  avec  le  plus  de  puissance.  C'est  ainsi  que  la  sul- 
tane  des  Mille  et  une  Nuits  interrompt  toujours  son  recit,  lorsque 
1'interet  est  le  plus  vif." — Madame  de  Stael. 

Among  the  oldest  ballads  many  relate  to  the  marvel- 
ous feats  of  Volga  Vseslavitch,  who  is  the  Prince  Oleg 
of  the  Chronicle  of  Nestor. 

"  La  villede  Kief  est  menacee  par  le  roi  des  Indes,  ou  par  le  sultan 
des  Turcs,  suivant  les  variantes.  Volga  arme  centre  lui  sa  droujina. 
Avant  tout  il  faudrait  savoir  ce  que  medite  le  sultan.  Volga  delibere 
avec  ses  compagnons  pour  decider  qui  Ton  enverra  en  eclaireur.  Si 
Ton  envoie  quelqu'un  des  vieux,  il  faudra  1'attendre  trop  longtemps  ; 
quelqu'un  de  1'age  mur,  il  se  laissera  enivrer  par  le  vin  ;  quelqu'un  de 
jeune,  il  s'amusera  avec  les  jeunes  filles  et  bavardera  avec  les  vieilles. 
Decidement  Volga  partira  lui-meme.  II  se  transforme  en  petit  oiseau, 
vole  sous  les  nues  et  arrive  a  Tsarigrad.  II  se  pose  sur  la  fenetre  du 
sultan  et  entend  toute  sa  conversation  avec  la  sultane. 

"  Le  Tsar  projette  d'envahir  la  Russie,  d'y  conque'rir  neuf  villes 
pour  doterses  neufs  fils.  II  promet  a  sa  favorite  une  pelisse  neuve. 
Alors  Volga  Vseslavitch  se  transforme  en  hermine  pour  se  glisser  dans 
1'arsenal  du  sultan  :  la,  comme  ces  rats  dont  parle  Herodote,  qui  a  la 
voix  cl'im  pretre  Egyptien  desarmerent  une  armee  d'envahisseurs,  il 
ronge  les  cordes  des  arcs,  arrache  aux  fleches  leurs  pointes  d'acier  ; 
meme  dans  certaines  variantes,  il  brise  les  chiens  des  fusils  et  mouille 
les  tonneaux  de  poudre.  Puis,  transforme  en  loup,  il  court  aux 
ecuries  et  coupe  la  gorge  a  tous  les  coursiers.  Le  royaume  des  Indes 
et  la  terre  de  Turquie  sont  maintenant  a  la  merci  de  sa  droujina.  Elle 
massacre  le  sultan  et  la  sultane,  extermine  toute  la  population,  a  1'ex- 

j  Ralston,  Songs  of  the  Russian  People^  p.  432.  2  Idem. 


CATHEDRAL  OF  TCHERN1GOV.  383 

ception  des  belles  jeunes  filles  ;  elle  egorge  enfants  et  vieillards,  '  n'en 
laissant  meme  pas  pour  la  semence,'  et  revient  en  Russie  chargee  de 
butin." — Rambaud,  "  La  Russie  Epique." 

Another  hero  of  Slavonic  legends  is  Nikita  Selianino- 
vitch,  a  young  Hercules,  the  type  of  physical  strength. 
When  Volga  and  none  of  his  droujina  (company)  are 
able  to  lift  a  plow,  he  raises  it  by  a  touch  and  flings  it 
skyward. 

At  Kanev,  near  Kieff,  a  tumulus  marks  the  grave  of 
the  truly  national  poet  Taras  Shevchenko,  whose  verses 
reproduce  all  the  most  interesting  traditions  of  the 
Ukraine. 

Antiquarians  will  proceed  from  the  Kieff  to  visit  the 
Cathedral  of  Tchernigov,  which,  founded  by  Prince  Mis- 
tislaf,  in  the  reign  of  Yaroslaf  the  Great,  is  "  the  most 
ancient  of  all  the  sacred  edifices  of  Russia."  l  More  than 
any  church  of  its  age,  this  retains  its  original  character 
externally.  It  is  square,  with  a  central  dome,  sur- 
rounded by  four  satellite  cupolas  :  to  the  east  are  three 
apses,  and  the  narthex  is  flanked  by  two  round  towers. 

i  See  Mouravieff's  History  of  the  Church  of  Russia,  ch.  ii 


CHAPTER  X. 

A    GLIMPSE    OF    POLAND. 

WEARY  indeed  is  the  journey  from  Kieff  to  War- 
saw ;  at  the  best  two  days  and  a  night  in  a 
heaving,  swaying  train,  in  carriages  full  of  people  spit- 
ting and  smoking  rancid  tobacco.  At  Kaziatin  there  is 
a  junction  with  the  Odessa  train.  The  country  is  almost 
all  forest.  Our  only  variety  was  when  the  train  stopped 
at  midnight  near  some  forest  huts  to  set  down  some 
sportsmen,  who  were  going  to  hunt  wolves.  They 
"  should  kill  many  before  morning,"  they  said.  A  number 
of  sportsmen  surround  a  district,  hiding  meat,  which  the 
wolves  scent,  and  then  come  toward  the  guns.  They 
are  seldom  dangerous,  unless,  as  is  often  the  case,  they  go 
mad  ;  then  they  rush  along,  biting  every  thing  they  meet, 
and  every  thing  bitten  dies.  Thirty  peasants  had  lately 
been  bitten  by  a  wolf  in  a  village  on  this  line,  and  every 
case  had  been  fatal. 

Russian  trains  are  never  obliged  to  keep  any  time,  and 
passengers  are  quite  at  the  mercy  of  conductors,  and 
their  whims  for  staying  at  the  different  stations.  We 
were  three  hours  behind  time  at  Brest,  and  the  Warsaw 
train  was  gone.  Five  hours  to  wait  !  Most  wretched 
was  the  almost  fetid  station,  yet  the  broad  so-called 
"  streets  "  of  the  miserable  town  outside  were  more  than 
a  foot  deep  in  sand,  or  mud — like  a  plowed  field  after 
months  of  rain.  Nevertheless,  there  was  nothing  for  it, 
but,  in  the  impossibility  of  enduring  the  station,  to  labor 
on  as  far  as  a  deserted  public-garden — a  field  planted 
with  lilacs,  which  cows  were  nibbling — two  miles  distant. 
Here,  merely  for  want  of  something  to  do,  the  writer 
began  to  sketch  a  shed  and  a  willow-tree.  Instantly  two 
soldiers  pounced  out  from  the  bushes,  behind  which  they 
had  been  following  him,  seized  him,  and  he  was  marched 


BREST.  385 

off  to  the  guard-room,  where  a  ridiculous  little  officer 
put  him  through  all  the  absurd  official  catechism  of  his 
age,  birthplace,  names  and  ages  of  parents,  objects  in 
coming  to  Russia,  object  in  being  at  Brest,  and,  above 
all,  object  in  sketching  that  particular  shed  and  willow- 
tree.  "  Had  he  a  passport  ?  "  "  Why  was  it  not  in  his 
pocket  ?  "  "  If  it  really  existed  and  was  at  the  station,  he 
must  be  sent  to  fetch  it ;  "  and  in  the  burning  sun  he  was 
marched  back  through  the  mud,  between  the  soldiers,  to 
bring  it.  Meantime  the  sketch-book  containing  the 
obnoxious  drawing  was  confiscated,  though,  when  the 
prisoner  was  led  back  to  the  guard-room,  he  instantly 
espied  it  abandoned  on  a  stool,  sat  down  upon  it,  and 
while  his  second  cross-examination  was  going  on,  under 
shadow  of  the  passport,  contrived  to  slip  it  up  his  back 
under  his  coat,  and,  when  he  was  at  length  released, 
carried  it  off  in  safety.  By  this  time  the  five  hours  had 
been  spent — or  wasted  ! 

A  little  north  of  Brest  begins  the  vast  forest  of  Bela- 
Veja,  peopled  by  wild  bisons,  sometimes  wrongly  called 
aurochs,  an  animal  which  once  existed  here,  but  which 
became  extinct  three  centuries  ago.1  It  is  forbidden 
under  severe  penalties  to  shoot  or  capture  the  bisons, 
but  the  Emperor  sometimes  presents  them  to  sovereigns, 
to  Zoological  Gardens,  or  to  his  friends.  As  late  as  1851 
there  were  1,400  of  these  animals,  but  since  then  wolves 
and  want  of  food  have  reduced  them  by  half  ;  indeed,  if 
they  were  not  fed  in  winter  they  would  soon  all  become 
extinct. 

Before  dark  we  had  entered  Poland,  whose  very  name 
is  a  symbol  of  national  misfortune.  That  name  is  all 
that  remains  of  its  ancient  independence,  and  alone 
distinguishes  it  from  the  rest  of  the  Emperor's  vast 
dominions.  Warsaw  is  now  merely  a  Russian  citadel, 
and  Cracow  the  chief  town  of  an  Austrian  province, 
but  the  imperial  treasury  of  Russia  finds  Poland  the 
most  populous  and  industrious,  as  well  as  the  most 
hardly-taxed  province  of  the  empire. 

The  proudest  days  of  Polish  history  are  connected 
with  the  great  House  of  Jagellon,  which  entered  the 
country  upon  the  marriage,  in  1386,  of  Ladislaus  II. 

i  Blaise  de  Vigener,  Description  du  royaume  de  Pologne  et  pays  adjacent*. 


3&6  STUDIES  OF  RUSSIA. 

Jagellon,  Duke  of  Lithuania,  with  Hedwige,  daughter 
and  heiress  of  Louis,  King  of  Hungary,  and  great 
granddaughter  of  Ladislaus  I.  Hedwige  died  childless, 
but  Ladislaus  Jagellon,  who  had  been  made  King  of 
Poland  upon  his  marriage  with  her,  became  the  founder 
of  a  line  of  kings  by  his  second  marriage  with  Anne, 
daughter  of  William,  Count  of  Cilli,  and  granddaughter 
of  Casimir  the  Great.  Four  generations  later,  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  Sigismund  III.  could  aspire  to  the 
sovereignty  of  all  the  east  and  west  of  Europe.  In  hearing 
so  often  of  the  oppression  of  the  Poles  by  Russia,  it  is 
difficult  to  remember  the  time  (1605)  when  Russia  was 
oppressed  by  the  Poles,  when  there  was  even  a  Polish 
partition  of  Russia.  The  ruin  of  Poland  was  accelerated 
by  its  want  of  natural  boundaries,  but  was  chiefly  caused 
by  the  great  power  of  the  nobles,  and  their  refusal  to  take 
their  share  in  the  national  expenses.  What  was  called 
a  republic  was  really  a  confederation  of  thousands  of 
despotic  sovereignties  and  there  was  no  connecting  link 
between  the  upper  and  the  lower  classes  ;  the  Jews,  who 
still  monopolize  all  the  commerce  and  profits  of  the 
country,  representing  the  middle. 

It  was  still  very  hot  weather  when  we  reached  Warsaw^ 
but  the  trains  were  prevented  coming  in  from  Moscow 
by  the  deep  snow.  In  the  terrible  Russia,  winter  had 
already  set  in,  for  it  was  the  end  of  September,  the  month 
of  gloom  and  dismal  forebodings.  "  As  surly  as  Septem- 
ber," "  He  has  the  thoughts  of  September,"  are  Russian 
sayings. 

What  a  luxury  it  was  to  reach  the  excellent  Hotel  de 
r Europe  at  Warsaw  !  What  a  change  from  all  Russian 
hotels  ! 

In  spite  of  political  depression  also,  the  people  of 
Warsaw  appeared  to  us  wonderfully  lively  and  cheerful 
compared  with  the  Russians.  Michelet,1  who  calls  the 
Lithuanians  "  fils  de  1'ombre,"  speaks  of  the  Poles  as"  fils 
de  soleil,"  and  they  seemed  to  us  to  deserve  it.  The 
writings  of  the  great  national  poet  Mickiewicz  2  are  full 
of  vigor  and  animation,  and  free  from  the  constant 
melancholy  of  Russian  authors.  The  streets  are  bright 
and  handsome,  and  the  noble  Vistula,  which  traverses 

i  Legendes  du  Nord.  -2  Never  translated  into  English. 


THE  PLAIN  OF  VOL  A.  387 

Poland  from  the  south  to  the  north,  flows  magnificently 
through  the  town. 

Close  to  the  bridge  stands  the  handsome  Palace  of  the 
former  kings.  It  was  chiefly  built  by  Sigismund  III., 
who  is  represented  in  a  bronze  statue  on  a  pillar,  in  the 
square  opposite  the  entrance.  The  portraits  of  his  pre- 
decessors by  Bacciarelli,  with  which  Sigismund  adorned 
its  apartments,  have  been  carried  off  to  Moscow,  and  are 
now  in  the  Kremlin.  The  thirteenth  century  Cathedral 
close  by,  hung  with  archiepiscopal  portraits,  strikes  those 
who  arrive  from  Russia  by  its  Gothic  architecture.  One 
had  quite  forgotten  what  Gothic  was  like  in  that  country  ! 
Beyond  the  cathedral  is  the  old  town,  with  narrow  streets 
of  tall  houses,  like  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine  at  Paris. 

One  side  of  the  Hotel  de  1'Europe  looks  down  upon 
the  gloomy  Saxony  Square,  beyond  which  is  a  pleasant 
little  public  garden,  and  further  still  a  bazar.  The 
street  of  the  Cracow  Faubourg  and  the  Novi  Sviat  (New 
World)  Street,  lead  to  a  pretty  little  church  dedicated  to 
St.  Alexander,  and  built  by  Alexander  I.  in  1815. 
Beyond  this  it  may  be  well  to  take  a  carriage  down 
the  avenues  to  the  pretty  little  suburban  palace  and  park 
of  Lazienki,  built  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century  by  the 
last  miserable  king,  Stanislaus  Augustus  Pomatowski, 
and  looking,  with  its  canals,  and  flowers  in  tubs,  as 
Reclus  describes  it,  like  a  "  Scene  de  theatre  en  plein 
air." 

From  the  outside  of  the  Lazienki  Park  the  road  des- 
cends into  the  dusty  plain  of  Vola,  where  as  many  as 
200,000  Polish  nobles  used  to  encamp  during  the  hotly 
disputed  royal  elections.  In  the  midst  of  the  plain 
were  two  inclosures — one  for  the  senate,  the  other  for 
the  nuncios.  The  first  was  oblong,  surrounded  by  a 
rampart,  in  the  midst  of  which,  at  the  time  of  the  election, 
a  temporary  building  of  wood  is  erected,  called  szopa, 
covered  at  the  top  and  open  at  the  sides.  Near  it  was 
another  inclosure  for  the  nuncios  of  a  circular  form, 
from  which  it  derives  the  name  of  kola  or  circle.  Within 
this  was  no  building,  the  nuncios  assembling  in  the  open 
air.  Wrhen  the  chambers  were  united  they  met  within 
the  kola  ;  the  chairs  for  the  senators  and  the  benches  for 
the  nuncios  being  ranged  in  the  same  order  as  in  the. 


388  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

senate-house  at  Warsaw,  the  seat  of  the  primate  occupy- 
ing the  central  place. 

On  the  day  on  which  the  diet  opened,  the  primate, 
senate,  and  nobility  first  heard  mass  and  a  sermon  in  the 
cathedral  at  Warsaw,  and  thence  proceeded  to  the  plain 
of  Vola.  The  senators  entered  the  szopa,  the  nuncios 
the  kola,  while  the  other  nobles  remained  in  the  open 
plain  ;  but  after  the  separate  meetings,  senate  and  nuncios 
united  in  the  kola,  where  the  primate  set  the  subjects 
for  consideration  before  them. 

The  day  of  election  was  one  of  the  most  striking  sights 
it  was  possible  to  witness.  The  senate  and  nuncios  met 
in  the  kola,  the  nobles  in  the  open  field  under  the  dif- 
ferent standards  of  their  palatinates.  Then  the  primate, 
declaring  the  names  of  the  candidates,  kneeled  in  the  open 
air  and  chanted  a  hymn,  followed  by  the  whole  assembly. 
Afterward  the  senators  and  nuncios  joined  the  nobles  of 
their  palatinates,  and  the  primate  went  round  in  a  car- 
riage or  on  horseback  to  the  different  bodies  to  collect 
the  votes,  declaring  afterward  who  was  the  successful 
candidate.  On  the  following  day  all  returned  to  the 
plain  and  the  successful  candidate  being  again  pro- 
claimed, a  deputy  was  dispatched  to  him  to  announce 
his  election,  as  no  candidate  was  allowed  to  be  present 
till  the  elections  were  concluded.1 

A  Polish  noble  is  by  law  a  person  who  possesses  a  free- 
hold estate,  who  can  prove  his  descent  from  ancestors 
formerly  possessing  a  freehold,  who  follows  no  trade  or 
commerce,  and  who  is  at  liberty  to  choose  his  own  hab- 
itation ;  this  description  naturally  includes  all  who  are 
above  the  rank  of  burghers  and  peasants.  The  peasants 
were  "  assigned  to  the  soil,"  and  compelled  to  cultivate 
the  land  of  the  nobles,  in  return  for  that  allotted  to  them- 
selves. 

It  is  necessary  to  have  two  horses  to  drag  a  drosky 
along  the  road  like  a  plowed  field  which  crosses  the 
plain  to  Villanov,  a  charming,  interesting,  well-kept 
"great  house"  of  the  Potocki — the  Holland  House  of 
Warsaw.  It  was  built  by  the  famous  John  Sobieski 
(John  III.),  and  was  sold  after  his  death.  Here  he  spent 
the  latter  years  of  his  life — an  unhappy  life,  as  he  had 

i  See  the  interesting  account  of  the  Polish  elections  in  Coxe's  Travels. 


VILLA  NO  V. 


389 


no  peace  in  the  diet  from  the  jealousy  of  the  nobles,  and 
no  peace  at  home  from  the  brawls  of  his  parsimonious 
French  wife,  Marie  de  la  Grange,  with  her  children. 
This  imperious  woman  also  contrived  to  alienate  the 
affection  of  his  subjects  and  to  render  the  close  of  his 
reign  unpopular.  On  his  deathbed,  Zaluski,  bishop  of 
Plotsko,  endeavored  in  vain  to  persuade  him  to  make  his 
will.  "  My  orders  are  not  attended  to  while  I  am  alive," 
he  said,  "  how  can  I  expect  them  to  be  obeyed  when  I 
am  dead  ?  "  On  the  day  of  his  birth,  which  was  also  that 
of  his  election,  he  died.  The  hatred  of  the  queen  for 


PALACE    OF  VILLANOV. 


her  eldest  son,  John  Sobieski,  then  led  her  to  oppose  his 
election,  to  make  public  speeches  against  him,  and  even 
in  order  to  prevent  his  being  king  to  persuade  the 
Poles  to  choose  any  candidate  rather  than  one  of  her  own 
children.  Their  choice  fell  on  Augustus,  Elector  of 
Saxony,  but  when  he  was  defeated  at  the  battle  of  Clissow, 
veneration  for  the  name  of  Sobieski  induced  Charles 
XII.  to  offer  the  crown  to  James  Sobieski.  This  young 
prince,  however,  being  at  Breslau  at  the  time,  was  seized 
(1704)  by  Saxon  horsemen  with  his  brother  Constantine, 
and  imprisoned  at  Plejssenburg,  near  J^eipsic,  and  afterr 


39°  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

ward  at  Konigstein.  Meanwhile  Augustus  had  abdicated, 
but  Stanislaus  Letzinski  had  been  elected  in  his  place,  so 
that  James  Sobieski  died  without  a  kingdom  in  1737,  at 
Zolkiev,  in  Russia,  the  name  of  Sobieski  becoming 
extinct  in  his  person.  From  his  elder  daughter,  mar- 
ried to  the  Prince  de  Turenne,  several  noble  French  fam- 
ilies are  descended  ;  his  younger  daughter,  Clementina, 
was  married  at  Montefiascone,  in  1719,  to  James  Edward 
Stuart,  the  Chevalier  de  St.  George,  and  died  in  1735, 
the  mother  of  Charles  Edward,  and  Henry,  Cardinal 
York. 

The  palace  of  Villanov  was  sold  after  the  death  of  the 
great  Sobieski,  and  the  reliefs  on  the  outside,  represent- 
ing his  victories,  were  not  put  up  by  that  modest  king, 
but  by  Augustus  II.,  by  whom  the  house  was  afterward 
occupied.  It  contains  stately  old  rooms,  decorated  with 
portraits  and  cabinets.  Sobieski  himself,  and  Marie  de 
la  Grange  are  repeatedly  represented  ;  there  is  also  a 
picture  gallery  filled  with  indifferent  copies,  and  a  very 
few  originals.  Several  small  rooms  are  prettily  decorated 
in  Chinese  taste,  with  Chinese  curiosities.  The  gardens, 
skirted  by  water,  are  pleasant  and  old-fashioned.  On 
the  green-sward  near  the  handsome  church  stands  a 
great  Gothic  tomb  of  the  Potocki. 

A  journey  of  one  night  takes  the  traveler  from  Warsaw 
to  Cracow  (Krakau),  which  has  a  beautiful  effect  from  a 
distance,  its  high  rock-built  castle  and  noble  churches 
relieved  against  a  most  delicate  distant  chain  of  jagged 
Carpathian  mountains.  Nor  is  there  any  illusion  to  be 
dispelled  as  we  drive  from  the  station  under  the  grand 
old  gateway,  and  enter  the  narrow  street  of  stately 
houses  which  leads  to  the  principal  square. 

Most  of  the  hotels  in  Cracow  are  horrible,  but  the 
Hotel  de  Saxe  is  good  and  comfortable,  and  the  "  Dres- 
denki"  endurable.  Most  appalling  of  aspect  is  the  pop- 
ulation, almost  entirely  Jewish,  all  the  men  in  corkscrew 
curls,  tall  hats  and  long  gowns,  and  the  women,  even  the 
youngest  and  best-looking,  with  their  heads  shaved,  and 
in  wigs.  The  other  costumes,  once  worn  by  all  classes  of 
society,  have  disappeared,  though  up  to  the  time  of  King 
Stanislaus  Augustus,  even  the  kings  wore  the  national 
costume,  and  shaved  their  heads,  leaving  only  a  circle 


CRACOW.  3- 

of  hair   upon   the   crown,  and   all   the    nobles   did  th 
same. 

The  grand  Gothic  Marienkirche  stands  in  the  principal 
square.  Internally,  it  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
churches  in  southern  Germany,  and  glorious  in  its  rich, 
yet  subdued  coloring.  It  contains  good  carving  by  the 
native  artist  Veit  Stoss,  1447,  and  the  tomb  of  Casimir 
(Jagellon)  III.,  1444-94,  who  married  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Emperor  Albert  II.  A  little  behind  is  the 
intensely  picturesque  church  and  porch  of  St.  Barbara. 

A  street  leads  from  the  square  to  the  bridge  over  the 
Vistula,  near  which  the  artist  will  find  a  very  striking 


CITADEL   OF   CRACOW. 


view,  with  beautiful  mountain  distance.  On  the  right 
rises  the  castle  rock,  at  the  base  of  which  Krak,  the  tra- 
ditional founder  of  the  town,  is  said  to  have  killed  a 
dragon  in  a  cave.  The  castle  —  the  palace  of  the 
ancient  Polish  kings — is  most  picturesque,  but  is  now 
partly  a  barrack  and  partly  a  hospital.  Just  within  the 
gate,  through  a  porch  hung  with  bones  of  a  mammoth, 
we  enter  the  cruciform  Cathedral,  in  the  center  of  which  a 
tabernacle,  like  that  of  St.  Crisogono  at  Rome,  covers  a 
silver  shrine  containing  the  relics  of  St.  Stanislaus,  Bishop 
of  Cracow,  and  patron  of  Poland.  Boleslas  II.,  whom  he 


392  STUDIES  IN  RUSSIA. 

had  rebuked  for  his  cruelties  and  debaucheries,  beheaded 
him'  with  his  own  hand  at  the  altar.  All  the  Polish  kings, 
from  the  time  of  Ladislaus  Loketec  (1333)  lie  here, 
except  Louis  and  Ladislaus  III.,  who  are  buried  in  Hun- 
gary, Alexander,  buried  at  Vilna,  Henry  of  Valois,  and 
Augustus  III.  The  laws  of  Poland  ordained  that  the 
body  of  a  deceased  king  should  first  be  carried  to  War- 
saw, where  it  should  remain  until  the  election  of  a  new 
sovereign.  Then  it  was  moved  in  state  to  Cracow,  and 
two  days  before  the  coronation,  preceded  by  all  the  great 
officers  of  State,  with  their  rods  of  office  pointing  to  the 
ground,  was  carried  to  the  church  of  St.  Stanislaus, 
where  the  burial  service  was  performed,  after  which  it 
was  taken  to  the  cathedral.  It  was  peculiar  to  the  laws 
of  Poland  that  the  funeral  of  the  deceased  king  should 
immediately  precede  a  coronation,  and  that  the  king- 
elect  should  attend  the  obsequies  of  his  predecessor,  to 
impress  him  with  the  uncertainty  of  human  grandeur. 
The  tombs  are  mostly  of  red  marble,  and  very  magnificent. 
One  of  the  most  striking  is  that  of  Casimir  III.,  the 
Great  (born  1309,  crowned  1333),  whose  reign  was  the 
golden  age  of  Poland.  He  enlarged  and  secured  his 
dominions,  built  some  towns  and  beautified  others.  The 
historian  Dlugosz,  who  flourished  in  the  next  century, 
says  of  him  as  has  been  said  of  Augustus,  "  He  found 
Poland  of  wood,  and  left  her  of  marble."  He  intro- 
duced a  regular  code  of  laws,1  was  always  easy  of 
access,  and  the  privileges  he  granted  to  the  peasants 
induced  the  nobles  to  call  him  derisively  "  Rex  rustico- 
rum."  He  was  killed  while  hunting,  by  a  fall  from  his 
horse,  in  his  sixtieth  year. 

Next  to  Casimir  lies  Ladislaus  II.,  the  first  of  the 
House  of  Jagellon,  once  Duke  of  Lithuania,  and  a 
pagan,  who  obtained  the  crown  of  Poland  (after  embrac- 
ing Christianity)  on  his  marriage  with  Hedwige,  younger 
daughter  of  King  Louis  of  Hungary  and  Poland.2 
Among  the  tombs  of  his  descendants  are  those  of  Sigis- 
mund,  the  great  protector  of  arts  and  sciences,  and  his 
son  Sigismund  (II.)  Augustus,  who  nearly  lost  his  crown 

i  The  first  book  printed  in  Poland  was  the  Constitutions  of  Casimir  the 
Great. 

•2.  Her  elder  sister,  Maria,  was  passed  over  because  she  was  married  to  the  too- 
powerful  Emperor  Sigismund. 


CRACOW.  393 

for  his  gallant  devotion  to  his  wife,  Barbara  Radzivill. 
In  this  prince  terminated  the  hereditary  influence  which 
gave  tranquillity  to  the  diets  of  election,  and  the  cabals 
and  dissensions  began  which  were  fatal  to  the  political 
importance  of  Poland. 

The  first  of  the  new  succession  buried  here  is  Stephen 
Bathori,  Prince  of  Transylvania,  elected  in  1576,  on  the 
abdication  of  Henry  of  Valois.  He  owed  his  crown  to 
his  marriage  with  Anne,  daughter  of  Sigismund  I.  Next 
lies  his  successor,  Sigismund  III.,  son  of  John  III.  of 
Sweden,  (by  Catherine  Jagellon,  daughter  of  Sigismund 
I.),  who  was  elected  in  1587  to  revive  the  Jagellon  line 
on  the  female  side.  Upon  the  death  of  his  father  in 
1592,  he  obtained  the  crown  of  Sweden  also,  but  lost 
authority  there,  and  was  eventually  deposed,  owing  to 
his  partiality  for  Poland.  Near  Sigismund  lie  his  two 
sons,  Ladislaus  IV.,  an  admirable  king,  and  John  Casi- 
mir,  who  became  a  Jesuit  priest  at  Rome,  and  even  a 
cardinal,  but  was  absolved  from  his  vows  by  the  Pope  on 
his  brother's  death,  and  received  a  dispensation  to  marry 
his  brother's  widow,  Louisa  Maria  of  Nevers,  who  prac- 
tically ruled  Poland  in  his  name.  He  was  brave,  but,  as 
he  preferred  peace  to  war,  he  was  accused  by  the  Polish 
nobles  of  pusillanimity,  and,  abdicating  in  the  twentieth 
year  of  his  reign,  retired  to  France,  where  he  again 
became  an  ecclesiastic,  and  died  at  Nevers  in  1672. 

The  Potocki  Chapel  contains  a  fine  figure  of  Christ, 
and  a  statue  by  Thorwaldsen  of  Count  Vladimir  Potocki, 
killed  in  1812  before  Moscow. 

Through  a  trap-door  on  the  right  of  the  entrance  visi- 
tors descend  to  the  vaults,  which  are  filled  with  sarcoph- 
agi. The  place  of  honor  is  occupied  by  John  Sobieski 
("  Malleus  Ottomanorum "),  who  was  equally  great  in 
military  courage  and  in  peaceful  sagacity.  His  tomb  is 
half  hidden  by  flags  and  garlands.  When  Charles  XII. 
of  Sweden  gazed  upon  it  he  exclaimed,  "  What  a  pity  so 
great  a  man  should  ever  die  !  "  J  The  sarcophagus  of 
Joseph  Poniatowski,  the  great  general,  who  died  nobly 
fighting  in  the  battle  of  Leipsic,  bears  his  crown,  scepter, 
and  sword.  The  celebrated  Polish  dictator,  Thaddeus 

i  He  is  celebrated   in   the  ode  of  Filicaia  :    "  Non   perche  re  sei  tu,  si  grande 
sei." 


394  TRA  VELS  IN  RUSSIA. 

Kosciusko,  who  died  at  Soleure  in  1817,  has  been 
brought  hither  to  rest  among  the  heroes  of  his  country. 

In  the  University  is  a  statue  of  Copernicus,  who  was 
one  of  its  professors,  and  is  buried  in  the  church  of  St. 
Anne.  Its  flourishing  time  was  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
under  Sigismund  Augustus,  when  several  of  the  German 
reformers  who  fled  from  the  persecutions  under  Charles 
V.  found  a  refuge  there. 

Beautiful  public  walks  surround  the  town,  with  many 
striking  points  of  view  of  the  picturesque  walls  built  by 
Wenceslaus,  King  of  Bohemia,  during  the  short  time  he 
reigned  over  Poland.  There  are  some  remains  of  the 
Palace  of  Casimir  the  Great  (1300-1370,)  and  in  the  gar- 
den a  barrow,  which  was  the  tomb  of  his  mistress,  the 
Jewish  Esther,  to  whom  the  Jews  are  supposed  to  owe 
the  numerous  privileges  which  they  enjoy  in  Poland,1 
"  the  paradise  of  the  Jews."  Here  in  Cracow  it  may 
truly  be  said  that  "  if  you  ask  for  an  interpreter,  they 
bring  you  a  Jew  !  if  you  come  to  an  inn,  the  landlord  is 
a  Jew  ;  if  you  want  post  horses,  a  Jew  procures  them, 
and  a  Jew  drives  them  ;  and  if  you  wish  to  purchase,  a 
Jew  is  your  agent." 

An  excursion  of  three  miles  should  be  made  to  the  hill 
of  Bronislawa,  on  the  top  of  which  Kosciusko's  heart  is 
buried  in  a  great  mound,  with  the  earth  of  which  soil 
from  all  the  Polish  battle-fields  is  said  to  have  been  min- 
gled. There  is  a  beautiful  view  of  Cracow  from  hence. 


Travelers  will  probably  return  to  England  from  Cra- 
cow by  way  of  Breslau  (Hotel  Goldene  Gans),  a  beauti- 
ful old  city,  with  an  interesting  cathedral  and  churches, 
and  the  most  picturesque  Rathhaus  in  Germany. 

i  For  the  sake  of  this  mistress  Casimir  was  excommunicated  by  the  Bishop  of 
Cracow,  a  severity  for  which  the  bishop  was  imprisoned  in  a  dungeon,  and  event- 
ually drowned  by  night  in  the  Vistula. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Abo,  131 

Adrian,  the  patriarch,  184 
Agourtzi,  popularity  of,  21 
A       iso,  Antonio,  173 
Alexander   I.,    56,    61,    77,  93, 

101,  in,  127,  242,  387 
Alexander  II.,  35,  78,  95 
Alexander  III.,  28,  177 
Alexander  Nevskoi,  S.,  59,  147 
Alexander,  Prince  of  Tver,  158 
Alexandra,  the  Empress,  78. 
Alexandrine,    Grand    Duchess, 

in. 

Alexandrovsky,  249 
Alexis  Michailovitch,  Tsar,  197, 

297,  301,  303.  305,  307 
Alexis  Petrovitch,  74-76,  172 
Alexis,  S.,  the  tomb  of,  219 
Ambrose,  Metropolitan,  270 
Andrew  III.,  Grand  Prince,  187 
Andrew,  S.,  347 
Anna  Petrovna,  78 
Anne,  Empress,  73,  176,  198 
Anne,  Grand  Princess,  351,  361 
Anne,  S.,  147 

Anthony,  S.,  of  Kieff,  367,  373 
Anthony,  S.,  the  Roman,  151 
Askold,    the   Varagian    prince, 

348,  376 
Atamans,  the,  343 


B. 

Baboushka,  the,  327 

Bati  Khan,  362 

Bear-hunting,  115 

Beatified  Redeemer,  sect  of,  235 

Beglovestnie,  the,  235 

Bela  Veja,  forest  of,  385 

Beleff,  246 

Benediction  of  the  Waters — 
at  Moscow,  222 
at  S.  Petersburg,  39-40 

Besyedy,  the,  119 

Bethany,  hermitages  of,  280 

Bielo-Ozero,  monastery  of,  143, 

337 
Boat  of  Peter  the  Great— 

at  the  fortress  of  SS.  Peter 
and  Paul,  80 

on  Lake  Ladoga,  118 

on  Lake  Plestcheief,  283 
Boris,  the  sainted  prince,  379 
Boris  Godunof,  the  Tsar,  176, 

187,  195,  216,  242,  275,  276 
Borsch,  21 

Boundaries,  marking  the,  345 
Boyarin,  the,  318 
Breslau,  394 
Brest,  384 
Bribery,  15,  25 
Burning  of  Moscow,  244 
Bylini,  the,  142 


39^ 


INDEX. 


C. 

Catherine  I.,  79,  98,  109 
Catherine  II.,  44,  45,  56,  57,  67, 

73.  76,  82,  94,  105,  no,  112, 

214,  272,  274,  344 
Cheboksari,  287 
Christening  of  the  Cuckoos,  334 
Christenings,  315 
Christianin,  the  name  of,  164 
Chudof  monastery,  219 
Church,  the  Russian,  252 
Clergy,  Black,  257,  258 

White,  254,  257 
Commune,  the,  120 
Constantine,  the  Grand  Duke^S, 

104,  114 

Convents,  Russian,  257 
Cossacks,  342 
Cotton  factory  at  Schlusselburg, 

H5 

Cracow,  391—394 
Crescent,  the,  on  churches,  174 
Crimean  War,  52 
Cronstadt,  104 
Custom  house,  24 
Cyprian,  the  Metropolitan,  181 
Cyril,  S.,  26 


Daniel  Alexandrovitch,  163 

Dantzic,  23 

Derjavine,  the  poet,  in 

Dir,  the   Varagian   prince,  348, 

376  ! 

Dishes,    favorite     Russian,  21, 

162 

Dissenters,  Russian,  234 — 242 
Dmitri  Donskoi,  173,  188 
Dmitri,  the  false,  202,  203 
Dmitri  Ivanovitch,  Prince,  159, 

195,  196 


Dmitri  of  the  Terrible  Eyes,  158 
Dnieper,  the,  347,  378 
Dolgorouki,  the  family  of,  79 

Prince  Ivan,  247 
Domostroi,  the  book  called  the, 

325,  326 

Domovnie,  the,  n 
Domovoy,  the,  122 
Don,  the  river,  341 
Donskoi,  the  monastery  of,  269 
Dosythea,  grave  of,  261 
Droski,  the,  28 
Droujina,  the,  142,  290 
Duderhof  Hills,  the,  109 
Diinaborg,  27 

E. 

Easter,  200,  201,  334 

Elijah,  S.,  105 

Elizabeth,  the  Empress,  58,  73, 
103,  109,  no,  216,  261 

Elizabeth  Alexievna,  the  Em- 
press, 77 

Epiphania,  39 

Eudoxia,  the  Grand  Princess, 
217 

Eudoxia,  the  Tsaritsa,  126,  171, 
218 

Exiles  to  Siberia,  245 

F. 

Falls  of  Imatra,  130 
Fasts,  the  Russian,  20,  333 
Fathers,  the  Greek,  251 
Feodor  Borisvitch,  202,  276 
Feodor    Ivanovitch,  the    Tsar, 

195,  307,  3io 
Finland,  126 

Fioraventi,  Aristoteli,  177 
Fireflies,  381 
Fir  trees,  contempt  for,  272 


INDEX. 


397 


Fletcher,  Dr.  Giles,  168 
Forests,  115,132 
Friday,  the  Russian,  336 
Funerals,  327 

G. 

Gatschina,  28 

Gelinotte,  the,  115 

George  Vladimirovitz,  163 

Gethsemane,  203,  282 

Gleb,  the  sainted  prince,  379 

Gogol,  53,  344,  345,  377,    378, 
380,  381 

Gostinnoi  Dvor — 
at  Moscow,  164 
at  S.  Petersburg,  56 

H. 

Harakka,  130 

Helsingfors,  131 

Helena,  the  Grand  Princess,  161 

Henry,  S.,  126-131 

Herbestein,  Baron  d',  164 

Hermogenes,  the  patriarch,  182, 

219 
Holy  Thursday,  200 


Iborsk,  143 

Icons,  11-13,  82,  121,  122,  187 
Igera,  140 

Ilia  Mourometz,  153,  374 
Ilmen,  lake,  135 
Ilyink,  246 
Imatra,  126 

Intemperance,  19,  20,  230 
Ipatief,  284 

Irene,  the  Tsaritsa,  213,  217,  266 
Isaiaslaf,  the  Grand  Prince,  353, 
362 


Ivan  Alexievitch,  198,  206 
Ivan  the  Great,   143,   173,   189, 

208,  214 

Ivan  Kalita,  163,  189,  220 
Ivan  the  Terrible,  27,137,   138. 

142,  167-171,  182.  192-195, 

208,  212,  213,  214,  217,  275, 

279 

Ivan  Vassilievitch  II.,  277 
Ivan  II.,  190 
Ivan  VI.,  the  death  of,  124,  125 

J. 

Jagellon,  the  house  of,  386 
the  tombs  of,  392 
Jerusalem,    monastery    of    the 

New,  293,  308 
Jews  in  Poland,  390,  394 
Joasaph,  the  Metropolitan,  279 
Jonah,  S.,  180 

K. 

Kalevala,  the,  128,  130 

Kalieki,  the  singers  called,  153 

Kanev,  383 

Karliki,  the,  n 

Kazan,  289 

Kazan,  Our  Lady  of,  56 

Kaziatin,  384 

Khaloff,  282 

Khlistovatchina,  the,  236 

Kibitka,  the,  156 

Kieff— 

Berestof,  365 

Boritchef,  ravine  of,  360 

Catacombs,  373 

Cathedral  of  S.  Sophia,  355, 
358 

Chapel  of  S.  Vladimir,  358 

Church  of  S.  Andrew,  364 


398 


INDEX. 


Kieff— 

Church  of  S.  Basil,  359 
of  S.  Cyril,  359 
of  Desiatinnaya,  360 

Convent  of  the  Ascension, 
365 

Golden  Gate,  359 

Lebed,  365 

Monastery,  Bratski,  364 
of  S.  Michael,  354 

Pec.herskoe,  366-372 

Podol,  364 

Statue  of  S.  Vladimir,  365 

University,  365 
Klin,  159 

Kolieda,  feast  of,  378 
Koltsov,   the  poet,  327-380 
Konigsberg,  24 
Korsakof,   in 

Korsin,  queen  of  Sweden,  131 
Kosciusko,  Thaddeus,  394 
Kostia,  21 
Kostroma,  284 
Kourganes,  345 
Krasnoe  Selo,  114 
Kremlin,  the  name  of,  176,  221 
Krilof,  the  fabulist,  57,  87 
Kriukova,  293 

Kulikovo,   battle  of,  188,  190 
Kursk,  341 
Kutusof,  56,  82 
Kvass,  152 

L. 

Lake  Ilmen,  135 

Ivanozero,  341 

Ladoga,  116 

Plestcheief,  283 
Language,  the  Russian,  10,  25 
Lanskoi,  the  death  of,  no 
Lazienki,  387 


Lent,  334 

Lomonossof,  the  poet,  34,  103 

Lyeshie,  the,  n,  133 

M. 

Macarius,  S.,  358 

Mamai,  the  Tartar,  174,  190 

Maria,  the  Tsaritsa,  wife  of  Bo- 
ris Godunof,  202,  272,  276. 

Maria,  queen  of  Livonia,  277 

Marie  Alexandrovna,  the  Em- 
press, 78 

Marie  Feodorovna,  the  Empress, 
77,  94,  114 

Marie  de  la  Grange,  queen  of 
Poland,  389 

Marie,  Grand  Duchess,  101 

Marienburg,  23 

Marina,  wife  of  the  false  Dmitri, 
216,  219 

Marly,  house  of  Peter  the  Great 
at,  101 

Marpha,  the  Tsaritsa,  159,  196, 
219 

Marriages,  318-324 

Martha  Beretska,  136 

Martyrs,  the  Greek,  251 

Mazeppa,  364 

Mentchikoff,  72,  98  ;  graves  of 
parents  of.  242 

Methodius,  S.,  26 

Michael  II.,  the  Grand  Prince, 
158 

Michael  Feodorovitch,  the  Tsar, 
182,  197,  209,  284 

Minin,  the  patriot,  165 

Mir,  the,  121 

Miskewickz,  the  poet,  30 

Mistislaf,  the  Grand  Prince,  145, 
146 

Moleben,  150 


INDEX. 


399 


Monastery,  Abramief,  338 

Ascension,  216 

Bielo-Ozero,  337 

Bratski,  364 

Chudof,  219 

Donskoi,  269,  270 

Ipatief,  184 

New  Jerusalem,  293,  308 

Novo  Devichi,  265 

Novospaski,  259 

Pecherskoe  of  Kieff.  367 

Pecherskoe  of  Pskoff,  27 

Peryn,  338 

of  S.  Cyril,  308,  337 

of  S.  Michael,  354 

ofS.  Alexander  Nevskoi,  59 

Simonof,  258 

Smolnoi,  95 

Strasni,  249 

Solovetsky,  338 

Therapontoff,  308 

Troitsa,  271 

Valamo,  117 

Vydubitsky,  338 

Yurieff,  151 

Montplaisir,  palace  of,  104 
Moscow — 

Arsenal,  the,  220 

Bazaar,  164 

Bielogorod,  160 

Burning  of,  244 

Cathedral  of  the    Annunci- 
ation, 187,  188 
of  the  Archangel,  189 
of  the  Assumption,  177 
of  the  Saviour,  224 

Church    of     S.    Basil     the 

Beatified,  165-166 
of   the   Saviour  in   the 
Wood,  208 

Dom  Pashkova,  224 


Moscow — 

Gate  of  S.  Nicholas,  221 

Borovitski,  221 

of  the  Redeemer,  172 

Troitski,  221 

Granitovaya  Palata,  201-206 
Hospital,  Foundling,  223 

of  Michael  Sheremelief, 

249 

Hotels,  162 

Iberian  Mother,  the,  227 
Ivan  Veliki,  176 
Khitaigorod,  the,  161 
Krasnoi  Ploshtshad,  165 
Library   of  the  Patriarchs, 

206 

Lobnoe  Miesto,  168 
Market,  Antiquity,  233 

Hair,  232 

Thief,  231 

Monastery,  Ascension,  216 
Chudof,  219 
Strasni,  249 
Palace  of  the  Kremlin,  207- 

231 

of  Petrofski,  243 
Park  of  Saloniki,  243 
Preobrajensk,  239 
Red  Square,  the,  165 
Redeemer  of  Smolensk,  the, 

172 

Romanoff  House,  226 
Sacristy  of   the    Patriarchs, 

205 

Semlainogorod,  160 
Slavonski  bazaar,  161 
Sloboda,   160 
SpaskSi  Verota,  172 
Statue  of  Minin,  165 

of  Pouchkine,  249 
Suharef  Toxver,  233 


400 


INDEX. 


Moscow — 

Terem,  the,  210-213 
Tower  of  Ivan  Veliki,  199 
Transfiguration  Cemetery, 

239 

Treasury,  214-216 

Tsar  Kolokol,  176 
Moskva,  the  river,  174 
Mountains,  in  Russia,  157 
Mouravieff,  the  historian,  364 

N. 

Napoleon   I.  at  Moscow,    181, 

244 
Natalia  Naryskin,  the  Tsaritsa, 

198,  204,  211 
National  hymn,  the,  114 
Nekrasov,  Nicholas,  poems  of, 

270 

Neskutchnaya,  246 
Nestor,  the  chronicler,  374 
Neva,  the  river,  41,  42 
Nicholas  I.,  the   Emperor,  34, 

51,  52,  78,  104,  356 
Nihilist,  the  expression,  4 
Nijni  Novogorod,  285. 
Nikita  Selianinovitch,  383 
Nikolskoi  Maros,  38 
Nikon,  the   patriarch,  296,312  ; 

memorials  in  the  cathedral 

of  the  Assumption  of,  186  ; 

robes  of,  205 
Novo   Devichi,    monastery    of, 

264 

Novogorod  the  Great,  134 
Novospaski,  monastery  of,  259 

O. 

Official  peculation,  15 
Olaf,  S.,  140 


Oldenbergs,  tombs  of  the,  107 

Old  Ladoga,  126 

Oleg,  Moscow  founded  by,  163 

Kieff  seized  by,  348 
Olga,  the  Grand  Princess,  348, 

379 

Oranienbaum,  97 
Orlof,  Alexis,  74,  98,99,100, 101 

Gregory,  94 
Orthodox  Sunday,  259 
Ostankino,  246 
Otrepief,  Gregory,  203 


P. 

Palm  Sunday,  200,  334 

Paul,  the    Emperor,  43,  60,  76, 

88,93 

Paul  of  Tobolsk,  371 
Pawlovski,  palace  of,  114 
Peewits,  129 

Peresvet  and  Osliab,  260,  272 
Pereyaslavl,  283 
Peroun,  the  idol,  142,359 
Peter  the  Great.  30.  42,  65,  67, 

69,   80,  84,  85,  93,  95,  101, 

102,  127,  165,  171,  172,  204, 

216,  274,  275,  280,  283,  366 
Peter  II.,  73,  98,  126,  189-198 
Peter  III.,  60,  73,98,  103 
Peter,  S.,  the  metropolitan,  180 
Petethof,  101-105 
Petersburg,  S. — 

Academy  of  Arts,  38 

of  Sciences,  38 

Admiralty,  42 

Alexander  Column,  33 
Theatre,   59 

Bazaar,  56 

Canal,  Fontanka,  58 
Moika,55 


INDEX. 


401 


Petersburg,  S. — 
Cathedrals — 
Kazan,  55 
S.  Isaac,  43-50,  51 
SS.    Peter    and    Paul, 

68 

Churches- 
oldest  in  S.  Petersburg, 

81 

S.  Alex.  Nevskoi,  59 
Preobrajenski,  93 
Convents — 

S.  A.  Nevskoi,  59 
Smolnoi,  95 
Cottage  of  Peter  the  Great, 

81 

Droskies  at,  28,  61 
Exchange,  67 
Fortress,  the,  68,  80 
Garden,  Summer,  86 
Gostinnoi-dvor,  56 
Grandsire,  the  little,  So 
Hermitage,  the,  84,  86 
Islands,  the,  63,  66-68 
Kammenoi  Ostrof,  66 
Krestovsky,  66 
Library,  the  Imperial,  59 
Monument  of  Krilof,  87 
Monument  of  Pouchkine,86 
Museum  Imperial    of  car- 
riages, 95 
of  relics  of   Peter 

the  Great,  84 
Nevskoi  Prospekt,  52 
Palaces — 

Annitshkoff,  58 
of  Mentchikoff,  38 
Michael,  88,93 
Summer,  87 
Taurida,  94 
Winter,  33,  34,  36 


Petersburg,  S. — 

Petropaulovski  Sobor,  68 
School  of  Naval  Cadets,  38 
Statues- 
Barclay  de  Tolly,  55 
Catherine  II.,  59 
Kutusof,  55 
Nicholas  Paulovitch,  51 
Peter  the  Great,  42,118 
Tsarinskoi  Lug,  86 
Vassili  Ostrof,  65 
Yegalinskoi  Ostrof,  66 
Philaret,  the  metropolitan,  278, 

282 
the  patriarch,  182,  183, 

J97 
Philip,  S.,   the    martyrdom   of, 

157,   182 
Photius,  181 

Plato,  the  metropolitan,  281 
Plestcheief,  Lake,  283 
Plotniki,  the,  233 
Pojarskoi,  the  patriot,  165,173 
Potemkin,    Prince,  58,  84,  94, 

109 

Pouchkine,  the  poet,  86 
Pravezh,  the,  15 
Pskoff,  27 

R. 

Radzivill,  Barbara,  393 
Railway  trains,  27,  339 
Raskolniks,  the,  237 
Rattiarve,  129 
Recollection  Monday,  331 
Rotari,  pictures  by  Count,  103 
Riga,  27 

Rivers  of  Russia,  151 
Romanoff,  the  family  of,  71,  226 
Ropscha,  loo 
Rostoff,  283 


402 


INDEX. 


Rubloff,  the  icon  painter,  107 

Rumiantsof,  371 

Rusalka,  the,  313 

Russia,  the  foundation  of,  143 

S. 

Samara,  289 

Sarai,  289 

Saratof,  289 

Saturday  of  S.  Demetrius,  332 

Schliisselburg,  115-126 

Sects  in  Moscow,  234 

Selski  Skhod,  120 

Selski  Starosta,  120 

Serapion,  S.,  278 

Serfs,  cruelty  to,  10,  226  ;  the 
emancipation  of,  8-10  ;  re- 
bellion of,  287 

Sergi,  monastery  of,  105-108 

Sergius,  S.,   189,  261,  272,  274. 

275 

Serieffsky,  palace  of,  101 
Services  of  the  Russian  Church, 
12,  13,  45,  49,  148,  199,  315, 
320 

Shemiaka,  the  usurper,  192 
Sheremetief,  palace  of  the  fam- 
ily, 247 

Shtshee,  152,  156 
Shuiski,  Vassili,   197,  219 
Siberia,  exile  to,  14,  245 
Silence  of  the  Russian  charac- 
ter, 21 

Simbirsk,  289 
\  Simeon  the    Proud,   the  Grand 

Prince,  189 

Simonof,  monastery  of,  261 
Skaziteli,  the  singers  called,  153 
Skoptzi,  the  sect  of  the,  235 
Sobieski,  John,  palace  of,  389  ; 
tomb  of,  393 


Solario  of  Milan,  143 
Solovetsky,  monastery  of,  338 
Solovief,   '  History   of  Russia,' 

by,  248 
Sophia    Paleologus,  the  Grand 

Princess,  190,  214,  271 
Sophia,  the  Tsarevna,  171,  207, 

212, 215,  266-269 
Sparrow  Hills,  the,  243 
Spissatelli,  Giovanni,  179 
Spring,  the  sudden  burst  of,  105 
Stakantchai,  26 

Stanislaus,  king  of  Poland,  95 
Stanislaus,  S.,  391 
Starosta,  the,  120 
Stephen  of  Perm,  S.,  208 
Strelna,  101 
Streltsi,  the,  172,  204, 
Superstitions,   10,   n,   122,  313, 

314,  377 
Suvarof,  61,  82 
Sviatoslaf,    the  Grand    Prince, 

369,379 
Synod,  the  most  holy,  184. 

T. 

Tamerlane,  the  invasion  of,  181 

Tambof,  289 

Tatiana,  the  Tsarevna,  308 

Tarantass,  the,  293 

Taras  Shevchenko,  the  grave  of, 

3S3 

Tchernigov,  355,  362,  383 
Tchudova,  132,  156 
Theodcsia,  the  Grand  Princess, 

the  grave  of,  141 
Theodosius,  S.,  367,  368,  369 
Theognosto?,  S.,  163,  178,  180 
Therapontoff,  monastery  of,  307 
Thieves  in  Russia,    17-19,  117, 

163,  230,  232 


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